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Entire team will tour Pakistan: Ganguly

February 18, 2004 20:32 IST

Ending suspense about whether some leading players are ready to go to Pakistan, India captain Sourav Ganguly said the entire team will tour the country for the upcoming series.

"We are still concerned about security, but the government is looking after it. We hope there will be tight security," Ganguly said, adding "everybody will be going".

"All the team members are physically and mentally fit," Ganguly told reporters at the State Secretariat where he had gone to meet West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee to discuss the setting up of a cricket academy in the metropolis.

He said the entire team, with the exception of Harbhajan Singh who is yet to recover completely from a finger injury, will make the tour.

When Ganguly's attention was drawn to the Board of Control for Cricket in India's stand that no player will be forced to undertake the tour, he said, "This is normal procedure and happens before every tour."

Ganguly, however, said he is not aware about the report of the three-member BCCI team that recently toured Pakistan to assess security arrangements at the venues.

Ganguly expressed confidence that the team would return victorious from Pakistan in view of its recent performance in Australia.

"We played very well in the series against Australia. Considering the fact that Australia is the world's number one team, even if we play 60 per cent of our game, we will win the Pakistan series," Ganguly said.

The Indian team is scheduled to leave for Pakistan in the first week of March. The BCCI is expected to announce the itinerary for the series later this week.

Ganguly also handed over a cheque of over Rs seven million to the Chief Minister which he had raised while opening a Paediatric Care Intensive Unit at the Dr B C Roy Memorial Hospital for Children.


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