Streak upbeat, Ganguly guarded

By Our Special Correspondent

BULAWAYO, JUNE 6. Heath Streak is ready and so is Zimbabwe. On the eve of the first Test against India, the Zimbabwean skipper struck a confident note.

``It's a huge game for us, a huge series. We had a very tough one when we played in India but quite a few positive things have come out of that. Playing at home, we know the conditions a little better. We can give them a good run for their money.''

The pitch was not a concern. ``I think it's going to be a good batting wicket. The ball should be coming on. There should be good bounce and a little turn at the later stages of the game,'' said Streak.

The Zimbabweans did not want to bask in the glory of their recent 2-0 win against Bangladesh at home. ``The main thing was we had to play well to beat Bangladesh. The Indians also had a tough series against Australia. So the confidence level is high in the two sides,'' Streak observed.

Streak conceded India was a quality opposition. ``It is a well- balanced side. It has a good seam attack with wicket- taking ability. Harbhajan (Singh) is bowling well. It has some world class batsman but we too have some really in-form batsman, some new finds and some youngsters who are confident. I think it'll be a tough series,'' he said.

Streak, however, did not agree with the concept of a two-Test series. ``It's not an ideal scenario. You don't want a case where the result is one-all. I think the people like to see results. The World Test Championship is a good thing and it will add a bit of excitement.''

Cricket in winter was a new experience. Streak confessed ``It's true that we haven't played a lot of competitive cricket in winter. But a lot of us play our winter league cricket here. The weather this time is quite good. It's not hot.''

The team was young, and Streak noted it was motivated. ``They're young and don't have much experience behind them but they've got genuine ability and some genuine pacers. I think we've got the guys who have the ability to take wickets, and if the conditions are conducive to them, I think we would see some good performances from them. That's what we're hoping. They have to remember where they should be bowling to specific players, not to be overawed by names. I'm hoping for some fine performances from these guys.''

Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly was guarded. ``We're not looking at a 2-0 scoreline. We're looking to play 10 days of good Test cricket. We don't want to look that far ahead. It's like a batsman walking out, not looking at a hundred straightaway. We would be concentrating session to session, that's what's important. We want to win sessions and play good cricket everyday. If we play good cricket the results will take care of itself,'' said Ganguly.

He marked out the strong areas ``we're a unit. That's the strong area. We've got together as a team which has probably been our strength in the last six months. I won't say much about batting or bowling - whatever we have done in the past two games is over. Test cricket is a different ball game. But the boys have been in good form in the last six-seven months and it adds to our confidence. The bottomline is, to play good cricket to win Test matches.''

Looking ahead, Ganguly observed ``I think we've the bowling strength to get sides out twice. And probably the team looks more solid than it's been ever. I've been involved with the side for five years. I wouldn't say we we're not in a situation to win - we came close in the West Indies, in Johannesburg, in Wellington. Somehow we couldn't win. Barbados was the saddest defeat. We just couldn't get 100-odd runs in the last innings. So there must have been some problem with the way we played ourselves. And I hope we don't do it again.''

How did he look at it? ``I don't believe in the past. I look at the Australian series, at the way we fought. How we came out of difficult situations. I think that's given me more confidence than the victory. Because it's not the first time we have beaten Australia at home. I think that's going to help us and stand for us in tough situations,'' said Ganguly.

On the failure to win abroad, Ganguly remarked ``we struggled for a third seamer in the previous tour. I think we probably have the solution here. I'm very confident with Harbhajan. I think he's a match-winning bowler on any surface. But then he has to prove it. I love playing overseas. It's much more peaceful and you get the time to be yourself and think about the game.''

Coach John Wright wanted the team to do well but was not unduly concerned about winning overseas. ``To me it's not a big issue. We've a Test match in th next five days. It looks a very good wicket. The opposition will be a tough side. And it'll be wrong to underestimate them in their backyard.

We've to play good cricket. So the answer to this question is - value anyone wherever you play. Personally I don't like talking about winning on the eve of a match. What's really important is that we play the first two hours well - then the next and the next two.''

On moves to promote Hemang Badani as an opener, Wright clarified ``we've got only two openers on the trip. Hemang is a high class player, and you know he's very good and we shouldn't look too much into it. He wanted to bat in that position and that was fine by us. We like players who want to try out things. We want flexibility.``

''I'm happy the way the openers have shaped up. We would have liked them to play really better in the first game. I mean touring away from home it's a critical position.

We want to get through the first two hours and the first three batters are very important. I think that's an area where we need to perform well. I think the other area is the seam bowling. We now have the players who can get four-five wickets. It's good because in India we have more spin options. It's different here,'' concluded Wright.

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