'Balaji was outstanding': Wright

Getting the best players around does not always guarantee a good game. At the MA Chidambaram stadium, however, four days of brilliant cricket in extremely oppressive conditions ended with Rest of India triumphing over a gritty Mumbai team. Soon after Rest of India won, John Wright, Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar spoke to the press.

Wright
On the match The best thing about it was that it was an extremely tough match. At various stages during the match both sides appeared to be winning. I thought it was a tremendous effort to score 340 batting last. It was a tough and competitive match and that was exactly what we needed.

On Balaji's performance with the bat I think Balaji was outstanding. It was wonderful to see a fast bowler come in and play with the intelligence, common sense and temperament that he did. His contribution set the tempo and the mental state for the rest of the day. So his was a major contribution.

Tendulkar
On his form I was playing a different role altogether. We were playing against a world class bowling attack and I had to perform. When I got in I just tried to hang around and build partnerships. The main thing was to spend time out in the middle.

On VVS Laxman's innings Laxman came in and played a blinder. Rahul also batted well. I was hoping for a breakthrough then, when the two of them were batting. I knew once we had Rahul, the other end was going to open up a bit. When the breakthrough finally came, it was too late. Maybe if we had a breakthrough 40 runs earlier we would have had a challenging match.

Dravid
On his knock and Rest of India's batting performance It was a good way to start the season. We were under pressure and needed some of the senior guys to put their hand up and be counted. It's good to start well but the Test series is a different ball game. It was not just a case of the wicket getting slower. You have to give credit to the quality of batsmanship as well. It was a hot day and that was tough on the bowlers. Balaji did a great job first thing in the morning and that was the key.

On batting with Laxman It's always nice to bat with Lax [Laxman]. We've had some good critical partnerships in the past both in domestic and international cricket. It was nice to see him timing the ball beautifully today. It's a little disappointing that he got out for 99 but at the end of the day we got the desired result.

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