I would like the team to continue winning: Ganguly

Sourav Ganguly is out to prove a point to all those who dropped from the team of the Asian XI for the match against the World XI. He does not say anything much on the subject, but he made it clear that the century today is proof that he is one of the best openers in Asia.

``I do not think I have to prove myself to anybody,'' said the Indian captain when probed about this at the media conference immediately after the match today. Ganguly was all praise for his bowlers without singling out anybody. ``They all bowled very well and to the plan that we had set for the South Africans.''

Talking about the Indian innings and his own, the stylish left-hander said the target was not as small as it looked. It was a difficult wicket to bat on for a fresh batsman. ``After the dismissal of Sachin, I had decided that I would try and bat through the innings. I am lucky that all my plans worked. My intention was to hit through the line of the ball as it was coming on to the bat a bit slowly. The wicket was also turning quite a bit.''

Ganguly also had a special word of praise for Samir Dighe. ``It just goes to show that if we back the talented players we have, they can easily turn into match winners. He had a bad day at Kochi but today he made up for that.''

The Indians however, are not ready to relax yet. As Ganguly pointed out, ``We have to develop the habit of winning continuously and the two matches are just the beginning. We would like to maintain this winning streak. Against a team as powerful as the South Africans it is a difficult job. But then did anybody expect us to be 2-0 up after the end of the first two games. We have so far managed to prove a few people wrong and I would just like the team to continue in this vein.''

When asked whether he was more interested in personal glory as he took 31 balls to go from 98 to 100, Ganguly said, ``no, they bowled a particularly good spell during that period. Morever, I did not want to take any risks as the match was in our control.''

The South African captain, Hansie Cronje however, felt that it was his dismissal that was the turning point of the match. ``I had settled in and I should have continued especially as I knew that it would be difficult for a newcomer to force the pace. However, they played really well. When we had the Indians at 33 for 2, there was a faint hope. But then the Indians have a good batting line up and played through the troublesome period quite intelligently.''

Cronje also added that he was not surprised at the way the pitch behaved. ``We knew that we would have to play on wickets like these in India. So I will not blame the pitch for the loss. However, I am hopeful that we will come back in the series with three matches to go,'' concluded Cronje.