da fazobetai： Daren Ganga and Umar Gul spoke to the media after the second day’s play
Osman Samiuddin at Karachi28-Nov-2006
With Ganga’s unbeaten 77 rest a substantial portion ofWest Indian hopes in this match © Getty Images
Daren Ganga is unlikely ever to bring a house down with his batting in themanner of a Chris Gayle or Brian Lara. But there is a lot to be said foran opener in his mould, especially on a day, and a pitch, like this.For over five hours, Ganga stood resolute, surviving trial by new ballswing, by reverse swing, by leg-spin and by unpredictable bounce. Thoughmost of the nine boundaries in his 214-ball stay were executed with apleasant correctness, unlike his 82 in the last Test, you are unlikely torecall any of them. Yet with his unbeaten 77 rest a substantial portion ofWest Indian hopes in this match.”I was trying to consolidate the side’s position,” Ganga told reporters atthe end of the day. “The plan was to make as many partnerships as possibleand with Shivnarine Chanderpaul we got one going for a while. We tried todo it with Runako Morton and Dwayne Bravo as well but they both got out.The plan is to get as close to 304 as possible now.”Neither was it an easy effort and nor was it particularly pretty on theeye. That has much to do, said Ganga, with the pitch though he was at leastcandid enough to admit that, occasionally, such pitches are a pleasantsurprise. “There is inconsistency in terms of bounce and it is toughgoing. It is important to be patient on this pitch. It isn’t a sportingtrack because it’s very slow and you can’t play shots too easily on this,”he said.But he added, “This is a true test of character though, a real test ofskill as a batsman. I am enjoying the challenge and as all great batsmenhave done in the past, you have to prove yourself on all types ofsurfaces. As a batsman, you have to be tested in all conditions. In termsof concentration and technique it was one of my better knocks.”It has been one of his better tours too and following a fifty in Multan,the signs that West Indies have found a long-term partner for Gayleare promising. “Yeah, so far this year has been good for me. Against Indiaand in New Zealand earlier this year, I was pretty consistent. I have setmyself goals and am trying to achieve them. We knew it would be difficulton this tour, we knew we would be challenged but we have shown characterso far.”If nothing else though, this Test will be a special one for him, for itbrought him his first international wicket. And it wasn’t a small oneeither. “Yeah getting Inzamam’s wicket yesterday was special. It was agreat joy to get such a big scalp. I haven’t done much bowling but it’sopened my eyes and I want to bowl more and become one of the options formy captain in the future.”Scalping big names is something Umar Gul is getting used to already.Having notched up Lara in Lahore to a list that already includesSachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman to name three, he was at itagain here. A marvelous post-lunch spell of reverse swing brought threebig names in two overs – Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Lara and thelast two castled by peaches. Lara, bowled by one cutting away from him,was part of a plan.”We plan against all batsmen and teams. We knew Lara shuffles early on andis a candidate for leg-before so my aim was to try for that,” Gul said.Despite three wickets and looking the most likely paceman to take more,Gul said the pitch wasn’t helpful for fast bowlers. “It isn’t that greatfor fast bowlers. You can keep the spinners on at one end and rotatebowlers at the other which Inzamam did well. It is a difficult pitch forfast bowlers but you have to be able to bowl on all kinds.”But if you’re not confused enough about the nature of the pitch already,Gul added, as an afterthought, that “it’s not a sporting wicket becauseeven I batted well on it.”