Form on the day will decide Final, says Ganguly
Stephen Lamb - 12 July 2002
England may be the bookies' favourites to win tomorrow's NatWest Series final against India at Lord's, but India's captain, Sourav Ganguly, isn't setting too much store by what the bookies think.
His team will face Nasser Hussain's side for their tenth one-day international this year. The two sides are currently level at 4-4, with one match - at
Durham last week - abandoned due to rain.
"I think both sides have played well," said Ganguly. "England came back well from 3-1 down in India. Here we have won four out of six and were well placed in the abandoned game in Durham. So we have had a pretty good time here.
"I don't believe in this word `favourites' anyway. It is the team that plays
well on the day that wins. It is a 100-over game and that means if things go wrong there is not a lot of time to get back.
"I have seen a lot of teams win a lot of preliminary games and lose the final
and I have seen a lot of teams lose most of their preliminary games and lose the
final."
India travelled to London from Bristol today, after completing their victory
over Sri Lanka last night. But England have rested since Tuesday's dress rehearsal win over India at the AMP Oval.
"It is hard when you play a day-nighter and wake up the next day and get on
the road, then play again the next day in a final," added Ganguly.
"I don't know whether our board got the itinerary before we came here. But I think one-day games need to be well spaced out as they can be tiring. We knew we had to do it - now the important thing is to get your mind over it and get along."
Unlike Sachin Tendulkar, who made his first one-day hundred against England at Chester-le-Street last week, Ganguly still awaits a first limited-overs hundred against England. However he has scored a Test century at Lord's - on his debut there.
"I haven't scored many runs in the one-dayers but tomorrow is another day," he said.
Tendulkar, who scored another ton against Sri Lanka at Bristol yesterday, will play despite a troublesome hamstring, but leg-spinner Anil Kumble will undergo a late fitness test on his calf.
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