'This whole team believes in winning' - Ganguly

Sourav Ganguly has said that the Indian team will have to look beyond personal goals and focus on winning to take Indian cricket forward. In an interview published in the May issue of Wisden Asia Cricket, Ganguly said though he regarded his team to be the number two Test side in the world, India had to match Australia's consistency to mount a challenge for the number one spot.

Throughout Ganguly's reign as captain, the emphasis has always been on the team performing and not merely on individual achievements. The declaration at Multan was an ideal example. "Well, the team comes first. I declared when Rahul was batting on 91 at Sydney [in the final Test in Australia] in the second innings. I probably declared a bit late in the first innings there - I should have probably declared on the second night - but you learn from mistakes. The team comes first. If Rahul thought it was right to declare at that stage [at Multan], he did the right thing."

Another feature in Ganguly's captaincy has been the way he backed players whom he thought had the talent to make it big. Virender Sehwag was one of those and Ganguly spoke about his stunning triple hundred at Multan. "I always had faith in his ability. I said after the triple-hundred that if anybody can get a double-hundred in one-day cricket, it's Veeru, because of the way he bats. And it's the way he should bat because he'll win you games. I'm very happy for him, because I pushed him up the order to open. Before the tour of Australia the selectors, and even John, told me that we've got to get another opener because he might not survive, might not do well on the quick, bouncy wickets. He's more than adjusted."

During the tour the team also had to overcome the opening conundrum with Yuvraj Singh, Aakash Chopra and Parthiv Patel in line for the second opener's slot. Ganguly was totally intent on Yuvraj taking on the opener's role and also said that Chopra, though very much part of the team, has to convert his starts into big scores. "He [Yuvraj] will go back and open in domestic cricket. He knows that. He's been told that when Australia come to India in October he has to open. He's [Chopra] definitely a part of the side. Definitely be part of the 14, but we need him to get big hundreds to be a part of the XI."

And according to Ganguly the biggest gain of the series was the batting of Parthiv Patel. "I've always been looking for a keeper who could bat. That's the reason Rahul kept in one-day cricket. Parthiv's batting has really gone a level higher in Australia and here. He's just a 19-year-old kid, and he's stood up against genuine pace in both the series. Lee, Gillespie, Shoaib, Sami - he stood up to them all and got good runs. He never looked uncomfortable."

Ganguly hoped that Zaheer Khan would recover from injury soon and said that the Indian bowling would be a serious threat when in full strength. "I am worried about him [Zaheer] because he's my key bowler. I need him to be fit. I need him to fire. He's the best bowler in the team. But I do understand that we play a lot of cricket, and that brings injuries. In the future we'll have to space him well. We need to make sure that he's available in most Test matches and rotate him in one-day cricket."

Irfan Pathan and Lakshmipathy Balaji stood out on the tour and Ganguly was extremely impressed with their attitude. "They're very committed cricketers. To be honest, I never expected them to be at this stage so quickly in their careers. But I'm very happy, you know, to see cricketers jump and take a step forward so quickly."

He concluded with a view to the future and said that winning consistently is the only way India could aim to achieve the No. 1 spot. When asked about his ambitions he said,"Just to keep playing well consistently. And if possible - I'm pretty sure most of this team will be around for some time - to do well in the West Indies in 2007."

For the full interview read the May issue of Wisden Asia Cricket