India hope to carry on the good show

“We need to win this game. It is important. It would be good to have three wins in a row and wind up the tour,” Ganguly said today. “It has not been a good tour for us but it happens when you play day in and day out,” he said referring to the team’s hectic schedule over the last one year.

“We would have two weeks off before heading for South Africa and it would be useful. We have been on the road for 10 months and we need to spend some time with our families.”

India came to New Zealand riding on a crest of successes but were totally exposed on the fast and bouncy tracks tailor – made for the home bowlers. Their first victory, in the fifth one-dayer, came only after losing both the Test as well as the one-day series.

Ganguly, who has severely criticised the condition of pitches especially in the first half of the tour, said a third consecutive victory would boost the confidence of the team but refused to call it a moral victory.

India can look forward to good batting conditions at the Westpac Park here tomorrow. The pitch, which became the butt of criticism during the second Test with many saying it was unsuitable for international cricket, wears a vastly improved look and the groundsmen felt it was just the right track for a final game.

Two days of baking hot sun has made up for the heavy rains of the last week and turf manager Doug Strachan said even 550 runs were not impossible on this pitch.

It is probably just the right setting for the batting trinity of Sachin tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Ganguly to score some runs ahead of the World Cup. While Ganguly has struggled badly on this tour, Tendulkar and Dravid have missed out on a big score in the one-dayers after scoring a half-century each in the Test series.

In fact, Tendulkar, who missed the first four one-dayers due to injury, has just one run from two matches while Dravid hasn’t progressed beyond 20s.

New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming wanted his team to keep itself motivated and was worried that his bowlers were losing focus since the one-day series had already been decided.