Australians are not unbeatable: Ganguly

Saurav Ganguly feels that the Indian side has the potential to defeat Australia in the ICC Knock-out tournament in Nairobi even though his side has been out of competitive cricket for the last four months. Incidentally, India will meet Australia in the second round of the tournament, if they defeat hosts Kenya in the first match.

Even though India's recent record against Australia has not been very good, Ganguly, in an interview in Calcutta, was of the view that it was possible to defeat them. He said, "the lack of match practice will not be any problem. Even the Australians have also been out of competitive cricket except for a three match series against South Africa." Touching upon India's recent record against the Australians, which is far from encouraging, Ganguly said, "Most of the matches were played in Australia. However, the wickets at Nairobi will be completely different in nature to that of Australia. So it is definitely possible to defeat them. I do not see them as an unbeatable unit."

The Indian captain also felt that even though the absence of seniors like Mohammed Azharuddin and Ajay Jadeja will be felt, the youngsters will prove themselves. "I have told the newcomers in the side that this is the ideal opportunity to establish themselves. They have to avail of the opportunities that come their way. I have full faith in players like Vijay Dahiya, Yuvaraj Singh and Zaheer Khan. From what I have heard, Zaheer is the fastest bowler in the country. And the little that I saw of them in the camp, I realized that they were raring to go." However, he was also quick to point out that seniors like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and himself will have to shoulder added responsibilities in the near future.

Talking about the tournament, Ganguly said that he was thinking of taking one match at a time. "Since this is a knock out tournament, I have decided that I will work on the plans on a match to match basis." The Indian captain was also of the view that the two practice matches in Kenya will help him to assess the strength and weaknesses of the team. He feels that the two games are very important as far as the Indian team is concerned. He also refrained from commenting on the controversial topic of match-fixing and whether it would affect the tournament in Kenya. He felt that a cricketer should have enough mental strength to ignore these issues. "After playing international cricket for a few years, I have realized that it is more of a mental game than a physical one. So one should always work on the conditioning of the mind and stop paying attention to issues which are of no use." Ganguly will be leaving Calcutta for Delhi tomorrow en route to Kenya.