Team looks more solid than ever: Ganguly

Craig Ray

India have a good chance to end a 15-year wait for victory in a Test series outside the sub-continent when they embark on a two-match series against Zimbabwe on Thursday.

The Indians, fresh from a brilliant 2-1 home series win over Australia in which they ended their opponents' record winning streak at 16 Tests, meet Zimbabwe in the first Test at Bulawayo's Queens Sports Club.

India are confident they can end the drought although wary of a side that surprised them in their last meeting on Zimbabwean soil in 1998 when their hosts won a one-off Test by 61 runs in Harare.

Earlier this year, India avenged that defeat by winning their two-Test series at home against Zimbabwe 1-0.

"I think the difference with this team is that we have the bowling strength to get sides out twice," India's captain Sourav Ganguly said.

"The team probably looks more solid than ever before. I've been touring with the team for five years and we've got into situations where we should have won, but somehow we couldn't manage to win," he said.

"I don't believe in looking back at the past too much but if there is one thing we could have taken from the Australian series it's the way we fought and came back out of difficult situations."

GOOD FORM

Both India and Zimbabwe have shown good form this year, the Zimbabweans taking a more sedate path past Bangladesh as they won their home two-Test series 2-0 with little fuss.

"This is a huge game for us and a huge series," Zimbabwe captain Heath Streak said.

"We had a tough series in India but I thought some very positive things came out of that.

"Playing at home, we know the conditions better and hopefully we can give them a good run for their money.

"Beating Bangladesh was a good confidence booster for us and hopefully the guys can take that confidence factor through. We've been working hard here, both in the nets and on our fitness and I think the guys are really well prepared."

The Queens Sports Club pitch is noted for its bounce and both teams were satisfied with what they saw.

"It's going to be a good batting wicket," Streak said. "There hopefully should be a bit of bounce there.

"I'm sure it will be a good cricket wicket throughout and we might see a bit of turn towards the latter stages of the game."

Ganguly said: "The pitches are not a problem. Sachin (Tendulkar), Rahul (Dravid) and myself all average more abroad than at home."

Zimbabwe named uncapped fast bowler Travis Friend in their starting line-up while India named a squad of 12 including the interesting selection of leg-spinner Sairaj Bahutule.

Bahutule claimed three wickets in India's 226-run victory over a Zimbabwe Academy XI in Harare over the weekend, but he will be a surprise starter on his first tour.

Teams:
Zimbabwe - Heath Streak (captain), Guy Whittall, Andy Blignaut, Alistair Campbell, Stuart Carlisle, Dion Ebrahim, Andrew Flower, Grant Flower, Travis Friend, Brian Murphy, Brighton Watambwa, Gavin Rennie (12th man).

India (from) - Saurav Ganguly (captain), Sadagoppan Ramesh, Shiv Sunder Das, VVS Laxman, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Samir Dighe, Zaheer Khan, Javagal Srinath, Harbhajan Singh, Ashish Nehra, Sairaj Bahutule.

You can also read:
India vs Zimbabwe - a statistical outlook
The men behind the numbers
Of stone dwelling and their cricket

Mail Cricket Editor