Australia will try to put pressure on Ganguly

By Malcolm Conn

NEW DELHI, MARCH 5. Australia will attempt to break the spirit of Indian captain Sourav Ganguly during the three-day match against Board President`s XI, beginning here on Tuesday.

The besieged home team skipper has belatedly included himself in the match to try and find some form, presenting Steve Waugh and his men with an ideal opportunity to reinforce the trauma of Australia's 10-wicket first Test victory.

Even with big guns Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie, Shane Warne and Adam Gilchrist all resting the Australian captain believes his counterpart can be further unsettled.``If he fails here he's going to be under enormous pressure going into the next Test,'' Waugh said during a rare day off as half the 14-player touring party made the four-hour bus trip to the Taj Mahal.

``He made a few statements at the start of the tour and now he's got to back them up. That might put a little bit more pressure on him as well.'' Waugh made a real point of singling out the team leader as the best way of bringing an opponent down.``He's the captain, that's who you go after. The Indians will probably be going after me,'' he said. ``If you can get the captain down he's going to find it tougher to make decisions on the field, particularly when there are turning wickets.``

``If you've got a captain mentally down and struggling it's going to affect the rest of the side''. ``We'll try and put as much pressure on his as we can``. ``He's probably struggling a bit after that Test. He's copped a lot of stick so he'll have his self doubts.''

Ganguly's sudden attempt to play extra cricket after ignoring almost all the domestic first class season comes following scores of just eight and one in the first Test at Mumbai. The left- hander was savaged by former greats such as Dilip Vengsarkar and Sunil Gavaskar for his contemptuous treatment of the local competitions. Waugh joined the list of critics. He was puzzled why anyone would not want to play for their domestic team.

``I would have thought if you're playing for your country you'd want to play for your State or whoever you're representing,'' said Waugh. ``Australian players always want to play when they go back home unless they've been told to rest''. ``As a batsman I would have thought you'd want to play most games. I find it strange he didn't want to play domestic cricket.''

Ganguly played just one game for his State of Bengal in the Ranji Trophy, when he performed modestly, and none in the more significant Duleep Trophy inter-zone championship after Christmas. This when India's last Test cricket was one match against newcomers Bangladesh and two against minnows Zimbabwe back in November.

Indeed, Ganguly has made more headlines since the Australians arrived three weeks ago for the time he has spent with actress Nagma than the time he has spent in the middle of a cricket field. Ganguly had still not arrived in Delhi on Monday morning, adding to the confusion and frustration of the other 14 squad members, who have been forced to endure substandard hotel accommodation and a lack of organisation. By mid-morning they still had no idea of practice times.

Waugh is keen to continue Australia's relentless pressure against Board President XI players who are on the verge of national selection in case any are chosen for the remaining two Tests. ``It's just the way we play the game,'' he said. ``We're pretty tough opponents.'' ``In the last Test on day three we were really hard. It was like 11 pitbull terriers out there. That's the attitude we've been trying to get into the side for a long time.''

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