June 29  
Ganguly says series is up for grabs 

LONDON: India captain Sourav Ganguly said he was optimistic about his team's chances ahead of their opening triangular series one-day international against England here at Lord's on Saturday. 

Nasser Hussain's men got their campaign off to a flying start with a 44 run win over Sri Lanka on Thursday. 

And Ganguly too knows what England are capable of after seeing them recover from 3-1 down to share the one-day series in India back in February. But the India skipper said history would count for nothing come Saturday. 

"In one-day cricket it is always anybody's game, played over 50 overs, and it will be whoever plays well on the day," said Ganguly. 

"In this series there are three very equal sides in Sri Lanka, England and India. So whoever plays well on given days is going to win." 

Ganguly has fond memories of Lord's, the left-hander making a century there on his Test debut back in 1996. 

"It's good to be back at Lord's, it's a beautiful ground and for me it has memories attached to it," Ganguly explained. "I have done well in a Test match here, now just let's see if I can do it in the one-dayers." 

Just as England are using this series to help them decide on their personnel and tactics for next February's World Cup in South Africa, so too are India. 

"This is a very important tournament in our preparations for the World Cup; those started at the turn of the year and we have done pretty well in one-day cricket in the past six months," said Ganguly. 

"Our performances here and in New Zealand will show us where our strength is when we go to South Africa."