Ganguly down with fever

Ashish Shukla

India have a slight problem ahead of their triangular one-day series match against the West Indies on Saturday, with captain Sourav Ganguly running mild temperature.

Ganguly, who ended his run-drought with an 85-run knock in the previous game against Zimbabwe, did not come out for practice on Friday, but team manager Chetan Chauhan was confident that the captain would be fit for the game.

"He should be alright tomorrow," Chauhan said.

However, V V S Laxman, who sat out in the previous game after sustaining a finger injury in the first match against Zimbabwe, has been ruled out for the match.

"He is not 100 per cent fit. He can still feel the pain in his finger and we will give him rest," Chauhan said.

"He should be fit for the remaining two games of the competiton, on July 4 and the final on the 7th," he said.

Chauhan confirmed that pacemen Ashish Nehra and Ajit Agarkar would be rested.

"All the others who have not played so far will get a game tomorrow. Debasish Mohanty, Reetinder Singh Sodhi and Harvinder Singh are all in the starting line-up," he said.

West Indies captain Carl Hooper said his side is looking forward to take on India.

"Obviously, the way the competition has gone, Zimbabwe is down at the moment and we want to do well against India," Hooper said.

"We expect India to be a strong opposition, certainly better than Zimbabwe -- without meaning disrespect to the latter -- and we will fight all the way," he said.

Hooper said it has been apparent in the tournament that the team winning the toss puts the opposition in to bat.

"It is because it is winter here. There is heavy dew in the night and the wicket has early moisture. The ball certainly does a bit in the first hour and that's why the opposition chooses to insert the other side in to bat," the skipper said.

But the West Indies won their first match against Zimbabwe by a neat 27-run margin after being put into bat.

"We have gained confidence from that win and I feel these are good tracks to bat provided you can see off the first 8-10 overs," he said.

Hooper said he would not mind playing two spinners against the Indians, even though the latter have the reputation of having outstanding players against spin bowling.

"Spin or seam, we got to bowl well on these tracks. We have got two spinners to be thrown at the opposition should the need arise," Hooper, who himself is an effective off-spinner, said.

Hooper said even though two of his fast bowlers, Reon King and Mervyn Dillon, did not bowl well in the opening match, he did not want to be harsh on them.

"I do not want to be harsh on them, they are still finding their feet. Reon has come after a long gap into the side while Dillon has had problems with his line and length in one-day internationals," he said.

Mail Cricket Editor