Ganguly praises Australia's 'win at all costs' attitude

Canberrra, Jan 11 (UNI) Former India captain Sourav Ganguly today said the two on-field umpires could have performed better in the controversial Sydney Test and Mark Benson should have consulted Steve Bucknor before giving him out caught by Michael Clark.

Ganguly, during the second day of the warm-up game against the ACT XI told Star cricket ''I thought he [Benson] could have done a better job speaking to Steve Bucknor.'' The decision by Benson, however, proved to be crucial in the end as Ganguly who was looking good became another victim of the dubious umpiring in the match. India, eventually lost the match by 122 runs.

''The moment I nicked it I turned back and saw it didn't carry. But that's the way is. It was agreed to stick by the captain's word and we have to stay with that,'' he said.

He added the fielder's word can be considered but umpires have a responsibility at their hands and should not take it as the final decision.

''If it's a decision by the captains then I think in modern day cricket it's fine. But the umpires have a responsibility too. You can leave it to the fielders but the umpires have to make a judgment. I think the umpires should interfere if they feel it's a 50-50.'' Despite so many controversies sorrounding the series and Ponting's side receiving criticisms from various quarters, Ganguly praised Australia's attitude of win at all costs.

''Sometimes things happen at the heat of the moment. But I also admired how desperate they were to win. That's not a bad thing in sport. Some decisions didn't go our way. It hurt us.

On the other side, it showed why they win so many Test matches,'' Ganguly added.

The Prince of Kolkata maintained that another tour game would have helped India and Perth will be the true test for the team. ''It's a happy team. We had a good year before this series. I spoke to the Indian board and said one warm-up was not enough.

''We should have had two. We had the Pakistan home series so it was difficult to fit in another game.'' UNI XC RAR RKM DS1415