I will come back, promises Ganguly

Making it clear that his decision to play for Northamptonshire has nothing to do with the financial package, former captain Sourav Ganguly asserted that he would perform and stage a comeback to Team India.

In England for a five-week stint at Northamptonshire, India's most successful captain told BBC Radio Northampton, 'I want to put runs on the board and get back into the national team.

'I'm not here from a financial point of view -- it's important to perform. I still feel I've got a lot of cricket in me and every run will be watched,' he insisted.

Ganguly, who was ignored for the West Indies tour, has previous county experience with Lancashire in 2000 and Glamorgan last year.

The Kolkata southpaw is in Northamptonshire as a cover for Chris Rogers who is on duty with Australia A.

Despite being jet-lagged after a long flight from India, Ganguly practised for an hour as he prepared for his debut in a championship match against Worcestershire tomorrow.

Ganguly believes playing in Twenty-20, one- and four-day cricket, would help his game and he would force his way back into the Indian team.

Ganguly is also set to play a four-day game against Pakistan next month.

'I hope I can help the county and this is of mutual benefit to us,' Ganguly said, adding that he was also looking forward to bowl. 'The conditions will help my bowling, it swings around a bit and I enjoy this part of the world.'

'I have emotional attachment here because I played my first Test in 1996 at Lords. I'm sure I can learn from the Northamptonshire players and it'll be good for both,' Ganguly added.

Meanwhile, Northants are all excited about their new sign-up and director of cricket Kepler Wessels and chief executive Mark Tagg, who accompanied Ganguly at a press conference, are hoping for a good performance from the former Indian captain.

''With two of the best one-day players in the world, in Sourav and Lance Klusener the Twenty-20 series, which starts with a home game vs Warwickshire on Tuesday June 27, is promising to be one to remember,'' they said.