Dhaka, Dec 13: Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly credited his team's huge win against Bangladesh here today to outstanding performances by Sachin Tendulkar and Irfan Pathan. Ganguly said the left-arm seamer bowled very well in picking a match haul of 11 wickets while Tendulkar also played a big part in the win with his record knock of 248 not out. "He (Pathan) bowled pretty well," Ganguly said while praising the track at the Bangabandhu National Stadium after India beat the hosts by an innings and 140 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the two-Test series.

"It was a very good Test wicket. There was help for the seamers and some turn for the spinners as well. There was a bit for everybody, even the batsmen could score some runs if they put their heads down and focussed on the job at hand." Singling out Tendulkar for special praise, Ganguly said, "Sachin batted outstandingly well." On his knock of 71, the skipper said big scores had been eluding him for some time but he was happy to put a partnership on the board when the team was struggling at 68 for three.

"I have got some good starts but I have not been able to convert these into big ones. But, it was good to put a partnership when we were three down for 68," said the captain who could not come out to field yesterday as he was suffering from fever. Bangladesh skipper Habibul Bashar said it was the top order which had been invariably letting the team down. "The top order has not scored runs, this is one area where we really need to improve," said the skipper. Bangladesh were bundled out for 184 and 202 to suffer their 30th defeat in 33 Test matches.

Bashar also admitted that the two dropped catches of Tendulkar proved quite costly. "If you drop catches like that, you will have to pay for those," he said, adding, had the team taken those chances, it could have made a big difference. He also praised Pathan, saying the youngster posed a big threat to his batsmen throughout the match. Pathan said he just concentrated on putting the ball in the right areas. "We got a very good wicket on the first day, the wicket was a bit damp and I just focussed on putting the ball in the right areas," said the Baroda bowler. "In the second innings, the wicket had got a bit harder so I tried to bowl more bouncers to put the batsmen on the backfoot. Then I resumed bowling normally," he said.