The Hindu : 'Batsmen short of confidence'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 14, 2003

Sport

Sport - World Cup

'Batsmen short of confidence'

Paarl Feb. 13. Not happy with his team's batting against Holland, Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly on Wednesday admitted his batsmen were ``short of confidence'' in the wake of their dismal show in New Zealand but insisted the performance would not cast a shadow on their future matches in the tournament.

``This was the first game and most of the guys needed to fire,'' Ganguly said after India's lacklustre 68-run win against Holland in its opening World Cup game here.

``They are probably short of confidence after their experience in New Zealand,'' he said referring to the disastrous tour during which India lost both the Test matches and five of the seven one-dayers.

``We should have put some more runs on the board,'' Ganguly said on the match against Holland. ``We need to work on our batting. The boys need to score runs.''

However, Ganguly said the team was ``just one knock away'' from striking form and not much should be read into the performance.

``We got only 204 runs here but it does not mean we can't get 260 or more against Australia,'' he said, looking ahead to India's next encounter against the defending champion on Saturday. ``We are the only side which has beaten it in the last 3-4 years.

``We are sure we would put up a good performance and it would be a good game.''

Ganguly said it was not the first time that low-ranking team had caused trouble for a strong opponent.

``It is a wake up call for us but these sides do cause trouble and it happens to most of the other fancied sides,'' he said.

PTI

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport