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'I would like to look at last two years'
Sourav Ganguly met the team with a smile on his face on Monday. Gone was the sombre look of Sunday night, reports Jaideep Ghosh.
Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly met the team with a smile on his face on Monday. Gone was the sombre look of Sunday night, when India had gone down to Pakistan. Though his body language conveyed that the Indians are really tense about Tuesday's game with Sri Lanka, he said that the team is really keyed up for the crucial game.
On team's poor run here: Instead of the last two games, I would like to look back at the last two years.
On Balaji's poor form: Bala had one bad game. Since it was an India-Pakistan game a lot of noise was made about it (his performance).
But he has won you tournaments, won you the series in Pakistan in both the Tests and one-dayers. He's been your best bowler.
He's young bowler without much experience and it happens. It has happened to the best of them on these kind of flat, batting wickets. He had one bad day but we will have to think about it because we are on the borderline. We need to do something to get to the final and it will be hard on Bala if he is left out but it will be just one game.
On Zaheer’s fitness: Zaheer is fit and is a candidate for a place in the XI on Tuesday.
On Muralitharan's absence: We have to play our best cricket. We've won even when he has played. Obviously he is a huge factor but we have to lift our game and play well which has not been the case in the two games we lost. It's time for us to look at ourselves.
On team's morale: The boys want to do well, they know that it is a do-or-die situation. We've been in this kind of situation in the past and we will have to make a comeback. Either we win tomorrow or go home. There is only one way out for us, no second chance. We will have to fire. I've seen with this team that when our backs are to the wall we come out and play well.
