Ganguly, who received a big cheer from the crowd during the presentation ceremony, appeared quite relaxed and said it was important for his team to start the series on a winning note.

"For a change, I heard something different," Ganguly said referring to the cheer from the crowd.

When asked whether the win came as a relief for him, Ganguly, who is struggling with his own batting form, said, "It does. That's important. But this is the way life goes."

Turning to the match, Ganguly praised his deputy Rahul Dravid and opener Virender Sehwag for their fine effort with the bat.

"Sehwag batted once again brilliantly -- in these conditions it's outstanding," said Ganguly at a baking Cochin.

"We were 220 after 35 overs and lost a bit at the end but we understand with the heat it gets harder.

"But I still thought 280 was a good total on this wicket because after fielding for three hours to come and bat wouldn't have been easy."

Man-of-the-match Sehwag said he made a conscious decision to see the India innings through, rather than playing in his usual attacking style.

India were 4-2 before Sehwag's 201-run stand with Dravid.

"When Sachin (Tendulkar) and Sourav got out I decided to bat until the end," he said.

"The wicket was not that good in the morning -- there was a little extra bounce -- so I decided to wait for my shots."

"Rahul and Sehwag can do nothing wrong these days," said Ganguly.

He was also all praise for Tendulkar, who took 5 for 50 with his leg-spinners.

"Sachin is a very decent bowler who has the knack of picking up wickets. It was very nice to see him bowl the way he did today."

Inzamamul Haq admitted Pakistan looked unlikely to reach a target of 282 after losing early wickets.

"After 12 overs with four wickets down that was the main point. Otherwise I think it was a chaseable target," he said.

"The bowlers did very well in the last 20 overs, especially Arshad (Khan) and (Mohammad) Hafeez.

"It was a good batting track and if we had held wickets it would not have been a big target."