Kanpur: Sourav Ganguly would like to rate his knock (87) on Saturday as one of his best in Tests. But the 51 in Johannesburg in his comeback Test would still remain his best innings, the former India captain told reporters at the end of Day II on Saturday.

The following are excerpts

Rating this knock

In terms of pressure, the one in Johannesburg is the best — since I was coming back and in terms of difficulty of surface. But this one is one of my top five Test knocks, considering the surface.

Your predictions for Day III

Let’s see what happens. We are about 20 runs ahead but on this surface you never know what’s going to happen. If the spinners bowl well and we get early wickets, then there are some possibilities…. We need to restrict them to 150.

India’s chances

Today we played Harris well… But we felt the ball may spin more in the second innings… If we bowl well in third innings we have a chance.

Will the seamers be threatening?

One needs to stop worrying… If it goes off it goes off… Just have to play on the merit of the ball and be a bit lucky.

Day’s proceedings

Batting on this pitch was really difficult and the South African bowlers were also quick… We batted well to get to 288.

Getting out on 87 again

I am very, very disappointed. I got out for 87 quite a few times… Must be a mental problem.

Game plan before taking guard?

I decided to be positive, go out and hit if the ball was there to be hit. The key was to keep the scoreboard moving… I decided to stay positive. I played my game

What would be a handy lead?

If Sreesanth and Ishant can do some magic on Sunday it will be great… Somehow we need to get to a 50-run lead and pick up early wickets.

Dhoni’s captaincy

I don’t want to rate anyone’s captaincy. Hope we win this game.

On batsmen throwing their wickets

I don’t think anyone did. None of the batsmen threw it away We batted well to get to 288 on this surface.