After having decimated lowly Bangladesh in the opening match of the TVS Cup triangular series, Indian captain Sourav Ganguly yesterday warned his teammates not to get carried away by the comprehensive victory, saying the real test would come against South Africa on Sunday. “It was a comprehensive victory for us, but honestly the real test will be against South Africa. It is important that we keep the World Cup momentum going” Ganguly told reporters after India annihilated Bangadesh by a resounding 200-run margin. “The South Africans have a good young team. Lot of their players have left after playing the World Cup and the new players are all raring to go. It will be a good contest”, Ganguly said. 

The Indian skipper singled out man-of-the-match Yuvraj Singh for special praise for his career-best unbeaten 102 and said he had always been an asset for the team. Asked whether he was surprised by the tame surrender by the home team, Ganguly said Bangladesh were capable of playing much better. “I think it's because it was the first game of the tournament. They will surely get better and better in the remaining matches.” “They have played much better against us. Their batting has not clicked and that has been one of their main problems” the Indian captain said, referring to the Bangladeshi slump. 

“It is a question of confidence but it's a bit low at the moment. They have to get mentally tougher. Once they get to 220-225 totals, the confidence level will be much higher.” Yuvraj Singh, who slammed nine boundaries and four sixes during his blistering unbeaten 102, said he had waited for a long time to get his first century and that it was a “special moment” to achieve the milestone. “I have waited for it for a long time. It is indeed a special moment”, he said. 

Yuvraj, however, did not rate the knock as his best, saying that he would rather rate some of the other knocks which came in crunch situations as better innings. “The wicket was a bit slow, so stroke making was not very easy. I generally come late in the innings and try to play till the 50 overs. It went well for me”, he said. Bangladesh captain Khaled Mahmud was at a loss to explain the embarrassing defeat.

“The top order batsmen have been failing and that puts a lot of pressure on the lower order batsmen” he said. “It was a very good batting track, so it's hard to explain why we keep failing. We have to address this problem in the remaining matches and hopefully we can improve upon our performance.” He said the team worked very hard at the nets but had not got the desired results. “We have tried to keep our wickets intact in the early stages, but that has not worked out. The top order has failed miserably.” “Even if we score 30-40 runs in the 15 overs without losing a wicket, it will help. But we generally lose three or four wickets in the first 15 overs which is not at all good” Mahmud, who took over the captaincy from Khaled Mashud after the World Cup, said.

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