CAPE TOWN, 7 March 2003 — Indian captain Saurav Ganguly said yesterday that his side is thriving on a new found unity which could carry them all the way to the World Cup final. “The last two years we have come together as a unit. We are definitely a team,” Ganguly said ahead of today’s Super Six clash against Kenya under the Newlands lights here.
“We’ve had our ups and downs but as a team we have stuck together. We have a good mixture of senior guys and youngsters who are playing well. It’s a great thing for a captain to see the boys fight together for a win.”
Ganguly said some of the form of the past six months was misleading. He highlighted a triangular series win in England last year as a better indication of the ability of the team than the 4-3 defeat at home against the West Indies and a 5-2 rout in New Zealand earlier this year. “We experimented a lot in the series against the West Indies and quite a few of us were not playing. We were trying to solve a few problems. We didn’t do well against New Zealand but the toss and the wickets were a big factor.”
Ganguly said the fact that Kenya had qualified with the second-highest points (10) behind Australia (12) meant the Africans had a good chance of reaching the semifinals. “If we take this game lightly we could be in trouble,” he said.
It was under-estimating the Kenyans that led to a defeat for India in a triangular series match in South Africa last season. “That was a series and this is a World Cup. The mindset is different. I don’t think we’ll make the same mistake.”
Kenyan captain Steve Tikolo and coach Sandeep Patil said the African side would go into the match with a positive attitude. “I don’t think there is any mental pressure,” said Tikolo. “The boys are happy to be in the Super Sixes. We’ll enjoy each game.”
Patil said Kenya had already pulled off a major achievement considering the few matches they had played against major teams despite having official One-Day International status.“We’ve only had 18 One-Day Internationals in four years. Do you expect us to win the World Cup? People who follow the game should appreciate our efforts,” Patil, a former Indian Test batsman, said. “We’ve taken a half-step forward by reaching the Super Sixes but we are not finished. We want to take a full step forward by playing well in these games.”
Meanwhile, Indian manager Jyoti Bajpai said the World Cup organizers had been requested to make the March 20 semifinal in Durban a day game instead of playing at night.
The other semifinal at Port Elizabeth on March 18 and the final at the Wanderers in Johannesburg on March 23 are both day games. Bajpai said he had not received a reply from the organizers on the request.
