Ganguly hopes good form will continue  Melbourne, Jan 8: Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly today urged his team-mates to carry their good form in Tests to the one-day series and make up for their poor show against Australia, whom they run into in the tri-series opener tomorrow. "We were beaten by them in the World Cup, we lost to them in the triangular at home last year. But, that is past and we need to carry on the good work of Test series," Ganguly said on the eve of the day-night match here. The captain was decisive about two areas--wicketkeeping and opening--where speculation was rife but did not commit himself on the eleven he would field tomorrow. "Rahul Dravid will keep wickets and Virender Sehwag would open the innings with Sachin," said Ganguly, denying a move to either have Parthiv Patel behind the stumps or to promote himself at the top of the order. But he refrained from commenting if he would opt for two spinners in the game tomorrow. "It depends on what kind of track we see tomorrow. If we find grass, we would not think about the two-spinner option." Asked about the possibility of inclusion of Rohan Gavaskar, son of the legendary Sunil Gavaskar, in the team, Ganguly said he was "in contention". Rohan, who was drafted into the one-day squad after Mohammad Kaif was ruled out because of an injury, has been attracting a lot of media attention here. "He (Rohan) plays from the same state side as me and has handled the pressure (of being the son of a legend) well. He knows he cannot be a Sunil Gavaskar. He knows the pressure is going to be on him but he wants to lead his normal life and go out and enjoy himself," Ganguly said. "He knows there is big difference between state and international cricket and he wants to improve. He is a good player who has proved himself in any opportunity he has got touring England and Sri Lanka with youth or A sides," he said, adding, "he is a far more attacking player than his dad and bats left-handed. If he does well, he could go places." The one-day series starts within three days of the conclusion of the fourth and final Test at Sydney and even though they were aware of the schedule, Ganguly wished there was a bigger gap between the two halves of the tour. "The one-day series is too close. After the big final day at Sydney, we arrived here yesterday. We did know it before that we would play a one-day game in two days' time, but there are a lot of young guys around and we would be okay," said the skipper. Ganguly took comfort from the fact it was easier to adjust from Test to one-day cricket than the other way around. "It is easier to adjust from Test to one-day than the other way round. In any case, I am pinning my hope on all 16 to do well and that alone would help us win." Published: Thursday, January 08, 2004 Back to Index