Paarl: Not happy with his team's batting against Holland, Indian skipper Saurav Ganguly on Wednesday admitted his batsmen were "short of confidence" in the wake of their dismal show in New Zealand but insisted Wednesday's 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. "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. India suffered the ignominy of being bowled out inside its quota of overs by a modest Holland attack, mustering just 204 runs. "We should have put some more runs on the board," Ganguly said. "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 Wednesday's 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 champions on Saturday. "We are the only side who have beaten them 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 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. Ganguly was also disappointed with the number of extras conceded by the bowlers and admitted that left-arm seamer Zaheer Khan, who bowled as many as nine wides including four in an over, was "rusty". "Zaheer was rusty but it could be because he has not bowled much since the New Zealand tour. At the same time we cannot concede so many extras and it could cost us dear in an important game. "As for our fielding, we are a good fielding side but the Dutch side was outstanding on the field today," he said. Leg-spinner Anil Kumble, who took four wickets for 32 runs, said he was happy to have bowled a good spell after a long time. "I didn't get much opportunity to bowl in New Zealand. So today's spell helped me to get back into my rhythm," he said. "It was a good day out." Extras:
'Batting needs to be sorted out, lot needs to be done'
Tags: cricket, world cup 2003, paarl, holland, indian, skipper saurav ganguly, australia, left-arm seamer, zaheer khan, leg-spinner, anil kumble.
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