Ganguly: India will give a tough fight

DURBAN, South Africa (AP) -- India can match Australia's all-around strength and go one better in Sunday's World Cup final at Wanderers, skipper Sourav Ganguly said.

"India can match everything that title holder Australia possesses," Ganguly said Friday, hours after his the Man-of-the-Match honors in India's runaway 91-run victory over minnow Kenya in the semifinal at Kingsmead.

"I've always said Australia is a tough side and we'll have to play well to beat it," he said. "But the Aussies too will have to play outstanding cricket to beat us.

"It's a great feeling to be in the final. But its not enough being there, we're hoping to play better than Australia and win the World Cup."

The semifinal win over Kenya, which was playing the biggest match in its cricket history, earned India its first appearance in the World Cup final in two decades since Kapil Dev's team won in 1983.

The Indian comeback came after an indifferent start, which included a lackluster win over minnows Netherlands and a massive nine-wicket defeat by Australia.

Ganguly's team recovered from the humiliating defeat on Feb. 15 to win all subsequent matches and has now earned a rematch with the two-time champion in the decider.

"After the early loss to Australia, it was a question of self belief," said Ganguly. "We always possessed the ability, but the boys have performed credibly to bounce back."

He said the loss to Australia was in the early stages of the World Cup when the Indian batsmen had not got accustomed to the bounce of South African pitches.

"Teams from the subcontinent take some time to get used to the extra bounce here," he said. "Since that loss to Australia, we've beaten everyone convincingly."

Ganguly said the World Cup had produced high-quality performances, even though "Australia and India had played yards better than the rest."

"On Sunday you'll find out which is the best one-day team in the world," said Ganguly, throwing a challenge to the Aussies.

The captain said India had performed well under pressure.

"Making the World Cup final is a huge thing for us and the millions of fans back home. The World Cup isn't just another tournament and we've done pretty well to get to the title round."

Ganguly said India had been producing good one-day results over the past year and the transformation into a World Cup finalist wasn't sudden.

Every team, including Australia, had some weakness that becomes evident after an opponent managed to exploit it, Ganguly said .

"Australia's top order has been scoring heavily. It's only if we can get the top batsmen quickly that we can expose the middle order," he said.

He said India's current form is excellent warmup for the title round.

"I think winning eight games in a row is definitely good preparation for a World Cup final," he said.

Kenyan captain Steve Tikolo, who has played against both opponents, said he thought Australia was stronger of the two finalists.

"These are the top two teams and the one that plays better on Sunday will win the World Cup, but I'd go with Australia," said Tikolo.

 

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