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 Adelaide
(Australia), November 22: Indian cricket captain Sourav
Ganguly said today his team's recent poor performance
against Australia - three consecutive one-day losses - will
give the hosts a mental edge over India in its four-Test
series. Australian one-day captain Ricky Ponting said after
his side's tri-series final win, they had a psychological
hold over the Indians. Ganguly, who arrived with his
teammates in Adelaide today, agreed the Indians had a mental
barrier to overcome.
"Yes,
honestly we've lost to them three times now in the last two
months in one-day cricket and we accept that they're a good,
he said. "That's why it's more of a challenge to raise
our game and perform at par with them in Australia. We know
they are going to be a tough side at home, they win overseas
as well and them playing at home will be even tougher."
He said he doubted his side's inexperienced pace bowling
attack would struggle on the bouncy Australian pitches.
India's
most experienced pace bowlers will be Zaheer Khan (26 Tests)
and Ashish Nehra (13 Tests), but Ganguly said both players
had proved their ability at international level. "They
were inexperienced in the World Cup and to be honest they
were on par with the best in the world, if you go through
the records," Ganguly said. "Even before the World
Cup, we went to New Zealand and the fast bowlers took
wickets."
Ganguly
added his team had a core of experienced batsmen who had
toured Australia before, and that India's once poor overseas
record had improved. "We struggled a bit in the
mid-90s, but we've started to play well in the past few
years, whether it's in England, the West Indies or the World
Cup," he said. India plays Victoria state in a
three-day warm-up game in Melbourne starting Tuesday. The
first Test in Brisbane starts on December 4 with other Tests
scheduled for Adelaide (starting Dec 12), Melbourne (Dec 26)
and Sydney (Jan 2).
India will
also take part in a one-day series in January and early
February involving Australia and Zimbabwe. (Agencies)
Published:
Saturday, November 22, 2003
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