They played well, what could we do -- Ganguly

They played well, what could we do -- Ganguly
Dharmendra Jore

Mumbai, March 1: Australian skipper Steve Waugh said their victory in the first Test was the best way for his team to pay tributes to the late Sir Donald Bradman. “We thought the best way to show respect to Sir Don was play top quality Test cricket,” he said.

Budget 2001: Full Coverage

“The way Adam Gilchrist batted yesterday I am sure there were a few glimpses of how Sir Don used to play,” he said complimenting the southpaw’ man-of-the-match effort. “There were some tough times. Even today the Test was hanging in the balance with Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid batting. But Tendulkar’s catch by Ricky Ponting was a major turning point,” Waugh added. The skipper said the Wankhede pitch was not ideal for Test cricket. ‘‘Any way what matters is a win.’’

Saurav Ganguly, who made mediamen wait for long, said that all was not lost and his team would work on the grey areas in coming time. “We did not apply ourselves. We will have to work on our overall cricket. There are two more matches to go,” he said.

Ganguly admitted that the Aussies played much better than his team. ‘‘We had a chance when Australians were 99 for 5 but the way Gilchrist and Hayden batted, we could not have done much about it,” he said.

SLATER LET OFF: Australian Michael Slater was lucky to get away with just a warning. Slater got into heated verbal exchanges with umpire S Venkatraghvan and Rahul Dravid and created unruly scenes after his appeal was denied.