Ganguly satisfied with Kenya outing

Sourav Ganguly confirmed that India took the foot off the pedal halfway through the Kenyan innings. They won by 98 runs, but could've clinched the game a lot earlier. "We could have finished it earlier, but I wanted to give everybody a bowl in a match situation," said Ganguly in a press conference soon after the match. "Irfan [Pathan] and Ashish [Nehra] have been bowling well. Ajit [Agarkar] was coming back after a break and I wanted him to bowl his 10 overs."

The fact that India did not bowl Kenya out was not the only blemish on their report card. Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh both failed to take the opportunity to spend some time out in the middle. "There's a practice game on the 16th and that becomes important for them. We need to get them into form because they're important players. When they score runs they win you games because they score at such a fast rate. I liked the way Viru applied himself, for whatever time he batted. He probably could have avoided that shot [the one that got him out] but we hope he fires in the practice match."

Ganguly also rued the fact that he fell short of the three-figure mark yet again. "It's unfortunate to miss two centuries in one week, but that's the way it is one-day cricket. Sometimes you try to accelerate and get out, and I probably got a good ball today."

Finally, when asked whether he thought India were ready for the big game against Pakistan, Ganguly nodded his vigourous assent.

For Steve Tikolo, though, the post-match press conference provided another chance to underscore his grouse against the International Cricket Council for not giving Kenya enough opportunities to play international cricket. "We have not played any one-day internationals for nearly 18 months now and it showed today. If we had been playing without a break, we may not have let India get away with all those runs in the end overs."

When asked if his team had taken any positives out of the match, Tikolo said that he was pleased with the way Maurice Ouma, the young debutant, played for his 49. He also said the match gave Brijal Patel, who has been out of form, a chance to get some valuable batting out in the middle.