Ganguly: 'It's do-or-die'

Looking ahead to Tuesday's crucial Asia Cup match against Sri Lanka, Sourav Ganguly said that he preferred to think about the performances of the last two years, as opposed to the defeats against Sri Lanka and Pakistan earlier in the competition. And India's hopes of making the final received a boost when Muttiah Muralitharan was ruled out of the match after his grandfather passed away.

Marvan Atapattu hinted that Sri Lanka would ring the changes in a game that they don't need to win. Chaminda Vaas is expected to miss the match because he is still to regain full fitness after being laid low by the flu bug that has swept through virtually the entire squad during the last 10 days. Sri Lanka are therefore left to pick their 11 from the remaining 12, which means they will be forced to play seven batsman and four bowlers.

Sri Lanka were very much aware, though, that victory tomorrow, and in the final on Sunday, would take them to second place in the ICC ODI Championship table. They are also on a remarkable streak of ten consecutive wins, and Atapattu insisted that the Indians wouldn't be the recipients of any neighbourly hospitality.

Ganguly made no excuses for his team's colourless displays so far, saying, "We have to lift our game. It's a do-or-die situation for us. But we've been in such spots before, and got the job done." When asked if he had taken any positives from the loss to Pakistan, he said, "The only positive is that we have no second chance. In the past, when this team has had its back to the wall, we've come out and played well."

And what if it rained? "Then we go home," he said with a rueful grin.

India's preparations have been hampered by the knee injury to VVS Laxman, and with the A team touring Zimbabwe, no replacement will be called up immediately. Ganguly indicated that the team management would think about asking for a reinforcement only if India qualified for the final. With the five-bowler experiment not having worked against Pakistan, India will almost certainly have to bring Parthiv Patel back into the team as a specialist keeper, and drop a bowler.

Zaheer Khan has recovered from his quadriceps-muscle problem, and could play, unless the team management is hesitant to go in with an all-left-arm pace attack. Ganguly defended Lakshmipathy Balaji, who has struggled to find any sort of rhythm here, saying, "Bala had one bad game, but because it was against Pakistan, much has been made of it. This is a guy who has won you games in the recent past. Anyone can have a bad day, it happens to the best on these flat pitches."

He did hint, though, that Balaji could make way for Zaheer - "It will be hard on him if he's left out, but it's just one game" - with Harbhajan Singh likely to be left out in order to accommodate Patel. Ganguly, more than anyone, will be aware of how his team's one-day form has fallen away since the World Cup, with 15 wins and 14 defeats from 31 subsequent games.

Both teams had relaxed training sessions in typically muggy Colombo weather. And although Sri Lanka have been the class act of this tournament, by a considerable distance, you sensed that India's desperation would tilt the scales in their favour tomorrow, especially with Murali and Vaas missing out.

Moin Khan's sloppy shy at the stumps off the final ball against India may yet cost Pakistan far more than just a bonus point.