India cricket captain Sourav Ganguly said on Saturday that the match against New Zealand on November 15 would be the most crucial one for his team and must be won to reach the final of the triangular series also involving Australia.
"We have two more matches left. Australia has already qualified, so the New Zealand match will be crucial. If we win the match, we will have a chance to qualify for the final," Ganguly told reporters after a workout at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata.
India, who are now level on points with the Kiwis after losing the Cuttack match by four wickets, will meet New Zealand in the last league outing at Hyderabad after their Bangalore match against the Aussies on November 12.
Ganguly, who underwent a two-hour-long training session at the Pankaj Gupta Indoor Coaching Centre at the Gardens, will be leaving for Bangalore on Sunday morning.
"I am fit. I am ready to play," he said.
He, however, reserved comment on the causes of India's poor show in the last two matches against the Aussies and New Zealand, both of which they lost comprehensively.
"I cannot comment from here on what went wrong. Let me first go there and join the team," he said.
The stylish lefthander, who underwent two back-to-back surgical procedures for a painful abscess on his left thigh, is returning to action after a layoff of almost a month since the first Test against New Zealand at Ahmedabad.
