Indian news round-up

Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly on Sunday lashed out at the Indian media and supporters for favouring the visitors Australia to beat India in the forthcoming home series. He also rued the Indian attitude of placing more faith in the opposition than in their own team.

Speaking to Agence France Presse (AFP), Ganguly said "Every country backs their own team, only we Indians think negatively about ourselves." Ganguly added "But deep inside, I believe it is really possible to beat Steve Waugh's side."

Ganguly said "the home advantage is very important and that is with us. Of the 15 wins by the Aussies, 11 have been in Australia. I think they will have a tough time here." He added "they may be the world champions with 15 wins in a row, but they have not won a series in India since 1970. We beat them easily the last two times they played here in 1996 and 1998, so they are the ones who have a point to prove."

On the third and final day of Australia's warm up game against Mumbai at the Wankhede stadium on Saturday, ace leg spinner Shane Warne became the 25th Australian to take 700 plus wickets in first class matches when he dismissed Amol Mazumdar in Mumbai's second innings.

Moreover, Warne's 7 for 56 is his personal best in the subcontinent while being the third best by an Australian on Indian soil. Off spinner Ashley Mallet took 7 for 38 against Central Zone in 1969-70 and paceman Ray Lindwall bagged 7 for 43 against India in the first Test at the Corporation stadium in 1956-57.

Warne made his debut in 1990-91 for Victoria against Western Australia. In the 169 first class matches so far he has picked up exactly 700 wickets at an average of 26.29 apiece. He has a strike rate of 60.9 and an economy rate of 2.58 with a career best of eight for 71.