Bengaluru, Feb 27: England captain Andrew Strauss’ valiant 158-run knock was unable to ensure a win for England against India at the Chinnaswamy. After the thrilling contest ended in a tie, Strauss spoke about the media about the see-saw battle that didn’t quite end perfectly for the visitors.
Excerpts from the interview
On whether he was happy with the tie
Well, yes and no. I suppose we were in a great position to win the game after 41or 42 overs, [it was a] shocking Powerplay and from that stage onwards India were favourites to win the game. So all credit to Graeme Swann and to Ajmal Shazad to get us the tie in the end and ultimately it’s just been a great game of cricket - there is no doubt about it, you know. [It’s a] great advert for the 50-over format. In some ways we are happy, in some ways we are distraught. But [it’s been] a great game of cricket.
On whether he regretted taking the batting Powerply when he did, allowing India back into the game
Well, it did [provide India an opportunity] but you back yourself to play better than that. We lost me and Belly [Bell] straightaway. That’s the last thing we wanted and that puts a lot of pressure on batsmen coming in. So in some ways [we’re] disappointed and [in] some ways privileged to have played in a game like that.
On England’s fielding and bowling performance
At times we were a little bit scrappy but Tim Bresnan in particular was outstanding - that was an incredible bowling performance from him in the end […] It was an outstanding wicket to bat on, so it’s hard to stem the flow [of runs]. Sachin [Tendulkar] obviously played brilliantly. [It’s been a] great game of cricket - I can’t say anything more than that.
On whether he enjoyed Sachin Tendulkar’s innings
No, at that stage it was not [enjoyable]. I think we stuck together pretty well – we didn’t get too distraught with the fact that India were batting well and we finished the innings very well. Tim Bresnan, as I said, played very well. You know, it was a great game of cricket, a great advert for the game, for 50-over cricket and both sides will take some positives from it and some negatives.
On whether a tight game lifts one or tires one out
I think we gain a huge amount from this game of cricket. In this format there is a lot of time to recover between games so we are not tired. At this stage we are excited about what’s to come. We [were] privileged to play in this game and hopefully we can go and get better from here.
On his Man-of-the -Match-winning knock of 158 runs
Obviously it was important that we kept getting boundaries in the middle period there […] We needed a platform there to [build on] in the final ten overs. It’s the best innings I have played and hopefully there is more to come.
On making his mark as a great ODI player, shadowing Sachin Tendulkar’s century
I don’t know about that. I am just doing my best to win games of cricket for England and it was one of my better knocks today.
