145;Gul good enough in Akhtar146;s absence146;

After being axed from the Indian one-day team in Australia, Sourav Ganguly couldn8217;t have found a more appropriate way...

After being axed from the Indian one-day team in Australia, Sourav Ganguly couldn8217;t have found a more appropriate way of scripting a comeback 8212; emerging as the match-winner in the crucial decider Test against the South Africans in Kanpur.

Yet, even as his fans are still celebrating his masterful knocks of 87 in the two Tests in Ahmedabad and Kanpur, Ganguly knows only too well that it8217;s high time he gets into the Twenty20 mode, since the Indian Premier League IPL is less than four days from launch.

After returning from Kanpur this morning, the former Indian captain made it clear he was itching to get down to practice for IPL. 8220;The series against South Africa is over. The IPL is coming up now. And I am sure there will be no problems with Twenty20 cricket. All that I need to do now is get down to practising for a few days, and I will find myself in the right shape for the new format of the game,8221; Ganguly said.

The 35-year-old left-hander is the captain of the Kolkata Knight Riders, owned by Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan. With John Buchanan as chief coach, the Knight Riders will play their first game on April 18 in the tournament opener in Bangalore against Rahul Dravid 038; Co. The obvious question cropped up 8212; the impending absence of Shoaib Akhtar 8212; and Ganguly pointed out that his team8217;s bowling arsenal doesn8217;t begin and end with the Rawalpindi Express.

8220;If Shoaib doesn8217;t get to play, that doesn8217;t mean it8217;s a big problem for us. We have someone like Umar Gul, and we will bank on him to deliver,8221; Ganguly explained. The mercurial Gul apart, the other pace options at SRK8217;s disposal comprise new sensation Ishant Sharma, old warhorse Ajit Agarkar and Bengal stalwart Ranadeb Bose.

Asked if playing alongside otherwise bitter rivals like Ricky Ponting is a whole new scenario for him, Ganguly maintained that it8217;s no big deal, and that it8217;s all about going out there and playing cricket at the end of the day. 8220;What difference does it make if I am playing in a team that has players like Ponting and other foreigners? At the end of the day, it8217;s the same bat and the same ball, and you have to play cricket,8221; he said.

Ganguly in top-20

Meanwhile, riding on his performance in Kanpur, Ganguly jumped seven places to be 17th in the ICC rankings for Test batsmen.

Story continues below this ad

In contrast, South African pace spearhead Dale Steyn conceded his top position in the bowling chart to Sri Lankan Muttiah Muralitharan after the loss. Ganguly scored 87 and 13 not out in a low-scoring match.

Interestingly, no Indian batsman appears inside the top 10 with Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag and VVS Laxman being other Indians in the top 20.