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Leeds, Sept 3: Captain Rahul Dravid credited
India's thrilling win in the rain-hit fifth cricket one-dayer at
Headingley yesterday to an improved batting performance. "It was
a perfect batting performance. We needed a big score because we
knew Duckworth-Lewis method would come into play," Dravid said
after India's win over England. "Sachin (Tendulkar) and Sourav (Ganguly)
gave us a strong start, Gautam Gambhir sustained the tempo and
Yuvraj (Singh) finished with a flourish," he added.
India made 324 for 6 and then restricted
England to 242 for 8 in 39 overs, the hosts - chasing a revised
target of 311 in 45 overs - falling 38 short of the D-L par
score of 280 after a third and final stoppage. India's surprise
bowling hero was Ganguly with 2-26, Matt Prior and Ian Bell
being the two key wickets. The 'Prince of Kolkata' made a
well-paced 59 at the top while sharing a century stand with
Tendulkar.
"I had good starts but didn't convert them. I
have been consistent though," said Ganguly who was named man of
the match for his all-round performance. Ganguly said Mahendra
Singh Dhoni deserved a bit of credit too, after effecting a
world record six dismissals. "He was the only guy catching the
ball today," he said, referring to a few dropped catches. Losing
captain Paul Collingwood said his side would take a lot of
positives from the match.
"It was always going to be a monumental
effort from the start. It was such a shame that the weather
keeps coming," he said. "We are still positive, we lead the
series 3-2. We still look a lot of good things from our
performance today," he added. (Agencies)
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