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 Indian cricket team captain Sourav Ganguly is confident of his team doing well on their 47-day tour of New Zealand starting December 1. Speaking after releasing the miniature cricketer figurines of 11 Indian cricketers at a function organised by Colgate here last night, Ganguly said, “We have a balanced side and with two Test matches and seven one-dayers to follow, it should be the right kind of build-up for next year’s World Cup in South Africa.”
When asked what he thought of the recent home series against West Indies, the stylish southpaw said, “It was a very close series. I think we did pretty well to win the three-match Test series 2-0 and then lost the one-dayers 3-4 as we just did not play well and also some of
our players missed the one-day series due to injuries.” Ganguly also said his side did not bowl well and the team missed the services of left arm seamer Zaheer Khan, who missed the series due to a shin injury.
“Zaheer is a source of strength to our side. His spell with the new ball and also during the death overs would have saved us loss of runs and once we get together to full strength, we should be doing better,” he added. Also present during the ‘Collect Your Cricketer’ promotion campaign were Indian vice-captain Rahul Dravid, leg spinner Anil Kumble, Virender Sehwag, Ashish Nehra, Mohammed Kaif, Zaheer Khan, Yuvraj Singh, Ajit Agarkar and Dinesh
Mongia.
When asked whether the 3-4 loss to the Windies would hamper the team’s preparation for the World Cup, Ganguly said, “I don’'t think so. We are playing seven one-dayers in New Zealand and I hope we do well there so that we can be confident of good performance during the World Cup.” When asked whether injuries to the Indian players was a concern before the World Cup, Ganguly said, “That is a major fear for us. Our trainer, Adrian Le Roux, has worked hard with the players and I hope we will be lucky enough to go without injuries till the end of the World Cup.”
When asked whether the Indians would be considered underdogs on the bouncy South African tracks, Ganguly replied in the negative. “However, it is good to start as underdogs as there will be no extra pressure. Moreover, we have done well in England, West Indies and Sri Lanka and how well we adapt ourselves during the World Cup will count in the end.” On the Colgate offer, Rahul Dravid said it would be a good campaign for kids who love to collect their favourite cricketers’ figurines.
“When I was young, I remember doing the same and enjoying every minute of it,” the Karnataka star said, adding that “In fact, the figurine looks better than me.” |
