'Unusual preparation no guarantee of success' - Ganguly

Sourav Ganguly played down New Zealand's special training programme for the upcoming Test series. "You can prepare any way you want, but what matters is how you perform in the middle. I agree with New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming that a tour of India is tougher than that of even Australia."

Ashley Ross, the interim coach, revealed that their team had trained in Australia and at home in simulated conditions in a bid to win a Test series in India for the first time. "In Christchurch and Brisbane, we played on wickets that were specifically prepared to mirror Indian conditions and the heat as well." John Bracewell will replace Ross in November.

Ganguly also called for a reduction in the number of one-day internationals India played. "We have been playing a lot of cricket in the past few years and are not able to see promising players in action. We often play 40 or more one-dayers a year which I think is too much."

Sunil Gavaskar and Geoff Boycott, who will be part of a cricket show Ganguly is hosting, echoed Ganguly's sentiments. "It's not the strain of playing, but of the travelling involved. In Tests, you're at the same place for a week and kind of settled," said Gavaskar, who heads the ICC's technical committee. He added that a team should not play more than 30 one-dayers in a year and that various captains had already raised the issue during a meeting with the sport's governing body. "The ICC and the boards probably do not have the same courage of conviction." He said. It is left to individual cricket boards to decide how many one-day internationals teams should play. South Africa and Pakistan each played 38 one-dayers last year, followed by India (35), Sri Lanka (32), New Zealand (31) and Australia (29).

Boycott said too many one-day internationals could kill interest in the shorter version of the game. "We're going to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. It's an easy and cheap way of running the game for the administration."