Ganguly hopes to build on the momentum

With the arrival of the second-biggest one-day tournament came the rain. The clear blue skies and warm weather gave way to a steady pitter-patter and a cloudy grey shroud. The Rose Bowl, however, with a steady wind blowing across it, still did its best to give the Indians a cheery reception ahead of their first game of the ICC Champions Trophy, against Kenya tomorrow.

The rain meant that most of the Indian contingent stayed away from practice and chose to spend their time training in the gym at their hotel instead. For those that came - Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh and Irfan Pathan - there was still the chance to have a bit of a knock, albeit against bowling machines, in the indoor nets.

If John Wright was bitterly disappointed at being forced indoors, he did not show it. He spent a length of time throwing balls at Pathan, while the others took turns against the bowling machines. Starting at the very dibbly-dobbly speed of 60mph, they slowly worked their way up, and apart from a couple of times when the blue plastic stumps were levelled, looked in good touch. Dravid had a longish bat, constantly tinkering with the lines, lengths and speeds on his machine.

This Indian batting line-up could certainly do with some tinkering. Their efforts in the last few matches, right from the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka, through to the NatWest Challnege via the Videocon Cup in Holland, have lacked their customary slap and dash. This has even prompted the management to fiddle with the batting order, sending VVS Laxman to open in the final match of the NatWest Challenge. But that was just an experiment, insisted Ganguly.

"That was a one-off. Sehwag will be back opening against Kenya. Laxman will bat at No. 3," said Ganguly. And Ganguly, never one to cower even against the best of opposition, chose to give Kenya decent billing. "They're a dangerous side. They've gone to a World Cup semi-final so they can't be that ordinary a team."

When asked whether it helped India that they were playing one of the weaker teams first up, and whether this would help them build on the momentum of their win against England at Lord's, Ganguly remained guarded. "Well, they [Kenya] are not the worst side. Whether it's Kenya or anyone else we'll still have to give our best because anything can happen in this competition. I hope we can build on the momentum, but we still have to bat better than we did at Lord's. We cannot win one-day games consistently if we just get 200 runs on the board."

The change in weather conditions accentuated the fact that the conditions in England were very different from what India were used to at home. "The ball swings and seams around. The new white ball will do quite a but in the initial stages," said Ganguly. "There's something in it for the bowlers early on, so we'll have to see through that period. 250-260 can be a winning total in England, it's not necessary that you have to get 300."

No-one in this squad is playing in England for the first time. Even Irfan Pathan, who has not played here with the national team, has toured before. But despite the fact that these players are professionals, and play all around the world through the year, Ganguly explained that conditions still took some getting used to. "It still takes time because it doesn't matter how well you play in the nets or in the warm-up matches, it's still different when it comes to an international match." But Ganguly added that India had been in England long enough now to acclimatise. "We've been here for 10-12 days now and I hope we're getting used to things. You can see the boys getting better and better."

The Indians do have to get better in all departments. What the batsmen need badly is time out in the middle, while the bowlers need to be tight. Even in the damp conditions, Ganguly did not believe that much rested on the toss. "Winning the toss is not that important because basically the wickets have been good. So it doesn't make that much of a difference batting first or bowling first. To be honest, in the three one-day games that we played, I don't think it has made any difference."

There's just a bit of moisture in the pitch, and with conditions as they are, there's little chance that this will change before tomorrow's match. This means that India will play three fast bowlers. "The pitch was damp yesterday even when the weather was fine, so I assume they have been watering it," said Ganguly. "With all the rain about it could be damp tomorrow as well. If it is damp, we would like to go with three seamers." With Lakshmipathy Balaji already ruled out by injury, this means that the team composition virtually sorts itself out. It's now up to the players to deliver, and get into the right frame of mind for the big one against Pakistan on September 19.