By Qaiser Mohammad Ali, IANS
Bangalore : Sourav Ganguly, who scored his maiden double century in the ongoing third Test against Pakistan here, said Monday that a cricketer has to live with both the good and bad forms.
“In cricket, you will get runs at times and at times you won’t get runs. You have to live with both,” he told reporters at the end of the third day of the match at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.
“As a cricketer you just need to focus on your own cricket and try and perform every time you walk out to play for India. It’s not going to happen and all you can do is try your best,” he said when asked how he looks at his form.
India scored 626 in their first innings, thanks largely to Ganguly’s 239 and Irfan Pathan’s 102. In reply, Pakistan were 369 for five wickets at close of the third day.
“I have been trying to get a double hundred. I have been close a few times in the past, but didn’t get it. It is good that I managed to do,” he said.
Ganguly said that it was an important knock, not his best ever.
“It is difficult to say but I think it is one of my important innings because we were 61 for four at one stage and from there we got to 600. So I think from that point of view and in the final Test of the series it was an important innings,” he said.
The left-hander hoped that his form would continue.
“Obviously if you look at it now, since I have come back I have played well. But I don’t think it was a good time, those eight months (when he was out of team),” he said.
“It is just that I have played well and it has kept getting better. The efforts that I put in are still the same even when I was part of the team and even when I was not getting the runs. It is just that I am a bit more successful now.”
Commenting on the match, Ganguly said that Tuesday’s morning session would be crucial for India.
“If we can get an early breakthrough tomorrow, and the way wicket is behaving, it will not be easy for the lower order batsmen,” he said.
Ganguly, who has bowled a lot in this series, said he looks at himself as the team’s fifth seamer on the upcoming Australia tour.
“Not the fourth seamer, but the fifth seamer. I don’t think I am good enough to be the fourth seamer. If I can bowl 13-14 overs a day without giving too many runs away and picking up a wicket or two every time I bowl I will do the job for the team,” he said.
“It will give the main bowlers a rest and it will also help Anil (Kumble) to distribute the overs well between the fast bowlers because it will help them not to get tired.”