Ganguly: Fight back or we go home

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) -- Indian captain Sourav Ganguly has asked his players to be in their best form in Tuesday's Asia Cup second-round match against Sri Lanka, its last chance to stay in title contention.

"The boys know that either we win tomorrow, or go home," Ganguly said ahead of its last second-round fixture, which it must win to secure a place in the final.

Sri Lanka (12 points) has already clinched a place in the final, leaving India (7 points) and Pakistan (5 points) in a contest for the second spot.

If India put it across Sri Lanka on Tuesday, both teams will meet again in the final on Aug. 1.

An Indian loss will prove beneficial for Pakistan, which has an easy outing against low-ranked Bangladesh on Thursday.

Pakistan recovered from Wednesday's seven-wicket loss to Sri Lanka and defeated India by 59 runs Sunday, leaving Ganguly dejected by his team's error-prone performance.

"We have to play well and make a comeback, it's a do-or-die situation," Ganguly said.

"I'm confident we'll come back firing in our last chance," he said. "I've seen this team play well with its back to the wall."

Ganguly said he was not thinking about Sunday's dismal performance any longer. He said being upset about a match the previous night doesn't help in improving the performance.

"As captain, I've got to be positive about the next match," Ganguly said.

Ganguly said the Indian team may fall back to seven batsmen and four specialist bowlers. Several of the Indian batsmen often share the fifth bowler's duties.

India had played five bowlers on Sunday, partially because of middle-order batsman V.V.S. Laxman's injury.

"We've been playing with four bowlers because I think one-day cricket is won by batsmen," Ganguly said.

"The combination of four bowlers and seven batsmen is definitely on the back of our minds," he said.