India captain Sourav Ganguly pointed the obvious flaws in India's yet another defeat in the final, but was stumped to answer why his team always fell short in the clincher of a game.
"We must be lacking something to lose finals even when seemingly in a good position," remarked Ganguly after India slid from the driver's seat to hand New Zealand the tri-series trophy on a platter by six wickets.
"It is heart-breaking. We have been in such situations in the past but haven't been able to finish it off. Once again we didn't look good enough to win the finals.
"Everytime we lose a final, it will become more and more difficult for us to come good in another finals."
India were 155 for 1 in the 25th over before the batsmen lost their plot, and while bowling, produced their worst display yet, of the series.
"After being 150 for 1, we could add only 120 odd from the final 25 overs. And when we bowled, they were 90 for no loss in the first 10 overs. That's where we lost the game."
Ganguly was critical of the middle order and said if any of the middle order batsmen had made a half century, the team would have gone past the 300-run mark.
| |||||||||||
Ganguly was similarly scathing of his bowlers and said if the conditions don't support them, they seem to struggle to make an impression.
"Just as we have to learn how to bat on seaming wickets, we also have to learn how to bowl on wickets which are flat.
"Since our medium-pacer bowlers don't have the pace of a Bond, Shoaib or Lee, they depend on little assistance from conditions to do well.
"Our bowlers didn't bowl good line and length and generally bowled both side of the wicket."
Ganguly said the score of 276 was still defendable if his bowlers had given the team a good start and bowled with accuracy and penetration.
Ganguly refused to believe that his decision to bat first was a bad decision given the position in which his side was at one stage.
"I chose to bat first because we don't have very good record of chasing in the finals, even though we had won two previous games in this tournament while chasing a target.
"The decision can't be faulted as we were in a commanding position at one stage."
Ganguly was also disappointed with his dismissal and said he was trying to run the ball to third man when he found the ball bounce a littler extra and the steer went straight to gully.
Amidst the gloom, Ganguly named Mohammad Kaif and Mahendra Singh Dhoni as the find of the series.
New Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming said he took heart from India's chase of a similar total against them in a league game earlier in the series.
"We wanted to put pressure on the fast bowlers, so that it becomes easier for the rest to follow."
New Zealand paceman Shane Bond was named man of the series, which was his second straight honour in his comeback to international cricket after being adjudged similarly in the Test series against Zimbabwe last month.
Bond reiterated that he has become a smarter cricketer and now prefers to bowl with common sense than just blind fury.
"I want to be similarly effective, without facing the threat of injury."
Man of the match Nathan Astle said he struggled against the spinners a bit in the 70s before pulling himself through.
"I struggled against Yuvraj in the 70s but knew if I could bat till the end the trophy would be ours."