India skipper Sourav Ganguly admitted that his team was a little bit "rusty" in their opening Asia Cup match against the United Arab Emirates, but expressed satisfaction with the overall performance.
"They bowled well in the first 15 overs. In fact, we did not bat as well. But it is understandable as it was the first match after the break and things will get better," Ganguly said after India defeated UAE by 116 runs in Dambulla, Sri Lanka, on Friday.
"We got a bit rusty. I hope we play better against Sri Lanka."
The skipper, however, was happy with the performance of his bowlers. "[Laxmipathy] Balaji and Irfan Pathan bowled well. Zaheer also ran in hard and bowled very well, which is good for the team," he said.
Asked whether he is feeling the pressure of being the tournament favourite, Ganguly said he does not believe in the word favourite as it is the performance in the competition and not past record that decides the winner.
Man-of-the-Match Rahul Dravid was visibly happy with his effort and said it was a good feeling to perform well for the country.
The India vice-captain, who scored a 93-ball 104 to guide India to a comfortable 260 for six after an indifferent performance by the top order, said he was himself "surprised".
"It is a surprise for me as well. I was feeling a bit rusty in the nets and was out early in the practice match. But I started to strike the ball well from the very beginning today.
"It was not a kind of a wicket to come in and blast but once you got used to the pace of the pitch then batting was easy."
United Arab Emirates captain Khurram Khan said it was a good learning experience for his team and they would go back and try to work on their drawbacks.
"This was our first international match. When we came here we had decided to take the two matches as a learning experience.
"We have been there today and after studying what happened on the ground we will surely come back better prepared in the next match."
The UAE plays hosts Sri Lanka in a day-night encounter at the same venue on Saturday.
Khurram said the bowlers bowled well but they need to improve a lot in the fielding and batting departments as they dropped a few catches and the batsmen failed to stay on the pitch.
