At the post-match press conference Sourav Ganguly expressed satisfactionwith India’s win, saying that a 2-0 lead in the series would really putthe pressure on Pakistan going into the third game at Jamshedpur

Chandrahas Choudhury in Visakhapatnam05-Apr-2005

Mahendra Singh Dhoni made the most of the opportunity to bat up the order© AFP
At the post-match press conference Sourav Ganguly expressed satisfactionwith India’s win, saying that a 2-0 lead in the series would really putthe pressure on Pakistan going into the third game at Jamshedpur. He alsosaid he was pleased that the move to send in Mahendra Singh Dhoni at No. 3 hadpaid off so spectacularly.”When I looked at the wicket in the morning it looked like it wouldcrumble quite quickly, and might not even be good for batting for thefirst 50 overs,” Ganguly said. “So the toss was absolutely crucial, andonce we won it, it was important that we made as many runs as possible inthe first 15 overs. That’s why we made the decision to send Dhoni in and he played fantastically well.”Dhoni said he had been told by the team management that he might get anopportunity at No. 3 at some point in the series, and that he had beenpreparing for this in the nets. He said that the position was the one inwhich he felt the most comfortable anyway because he opens the batting orbats at No.3 in first-class cricket. Of his spectacular hitting after hegot to his hundred, Dhoni remarked, “After I got to a hundred I felt itwas important to push the scoring as much as possible so that we couldmake about 350. The ball was not doing anything off the pitch and I knewthat even a score of 350 might not be enough.”