India has batting to challenge Australia, says Ganguly

BANGALORE—India has the batting strength in depth to pose a serious challenge to Australia when they clash in a test series starting later this month, according to Saurav Ganguly.
“There is a lot of batting talent in this team. Rahul (Dravid), Sachin (Tendulkar), myself, (Vangipurappu) Laxman, Yuvraj (Singh), (Wasim) Jaffer,” former captain Ganguly told a news conference on Monday.
In-form Ganguly, 35, struck a maiden double century on Sunday in the final test against Pakistan, a home series that saw almost all of India’s top batsmen strike form ahead of the four-test rubber in Australia starting on Boxing Day.
But the docile nature of the pitches provided for the three tests came in for criticism ahead of an Australia tour where the tracks are expected to be bounce. “We’ll get used to the conditions,” said Ganguly.
“We have players who have performed well in Australia, England, West Indies and South Africa. “I am sure they will all adjust, they have done it before.”
Ganguly came back strongly after being dropped from the one-day and test teams after losing his captaincy two years ago following a public spat with then coach Greg Chappell.
The left-hander is currently his country’s leading test run-getter for the year with 932 runs.
“Obviously if you look at it now, I have come back well, played well, but I don’t think it was a good time staying away (from international cricket) for eight months.
“The efforts (now) have been the same when I was part of the team and when I was not getting runs.” India drew 1-1 on their previous tour of Australia in 2003-04.—Agencies