Ganguly says India's defeat should be forgotten

Indian cricket captain Saurav Ganguly said his team's 70-run defeat against underdogs Kenya in a triangular series match Port Elizabeth was an unrepeatable performance that was best forgotten.

A despondent Ganguly said: "We'll just have to forget about it and get on with the next match. We've got a game against South Africa Friday (third team in the series). You know this is not going to happen again."

Written off by many, Kenya, in a triangular series game here Wednesday night, kept India to just 176 all out in 46 overs after setting a target of 246 for 6 in their 50 overs.

The Kenyan team's victory was all the more significant because of the absence of their captain Maurice Odumbe and their manager Mehmood Quraishy.

The Indian score might have been even lower if it weren't for the poor performance of the Kenyans in the last 5 overs of the game. The Kenyans dropped 3 catches in quick succession.

"We just played poor cricket," said Ganguly. "All credit to the Kenyans. They played better than us in every aspect. They bowled better; they batted better, they fielded better."

Ganguly said it was a good batting surface to have reached the total set by Kenya. "Considering our record against them, we should have chased that score but it didn't happen. We lost wickets in the first 10 to 15 overs and couldn't get the ball off the square. It's just one of those days," said Ganguly, whose score was kept down to 24 off 35 balls, with opening partner Sachin Tendulkar leaving the field even worse off with only 3 off 20 balls.

Harbhajan Singh, who was man of the match Sunday, saved some face for India with the highest single score for his team, 37 off 31 balls. He raised some hopes in the tail end of the game but they lasted only till Ravindu Shah caught him.

Joseph Angara was thrilled at his bowling that got the Indian openers out. He was named Man of the Match for his bowling that included four consecutive maiden overs and three for 30 in his 10 overs.

"It was very good for me. I got the rhythm right and kept putting the ball there. Especially bowling to people like Sachin Tendulkar and Saurav Ganguly wasn't easy. We know what Sachin can do and when you spread the ball around, he'll finish you up," said Angara, who was injured at the start of the tour when he was hit in the mouth. "I still have braces in my teeth," he joked.

Kenyan captain Steve Tikolo, who predicted at least 270 for his side, credited the opening pair of Kennedy Otieno and Shah, who totted up 114 between them before going off.

"I thought they got out at the wrong time. I felt they should have stayed a bit longer, but they played very well," said Tikolo, who was captaining his side for the first time in his career.

Odumbe did not play due to a two-match suspension after making remarks about the attitude of an umpire in the game between South Africa and Kenya Sunday, and Quraishy is awaiting triple heart bypass surgery here after collapsing Tuesday.

"Led by Joseph, I think the bowlers did a fantastic job for us and on behalf of the whole team I want to dedicate this win to our manager. We spoke about it during the team meeting and thought: "Hey guys, let's go out and enjoy the game and we can do it for Quraishy and Odombe."

Tikolo said Kenya had vindicated their earlier poor performance. The Kenyans will play South Africa again Monday, while India will match wits with the South Africans again before that, Friday.

India's tour of South Africa : Complete coverage

--Indo-Asian News Service

Mail Cricket Editor