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NEWS Asia Cup 2004>Winning crucial to be good team: Ganguly 15th July 2004 21.59 IST By CricketZone Bureau Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly on Thursday called upon his players to strive for consistency at the start of the new season, which gets underway with a game against UAE in the Asia Cup in Dambulla on Friday. "Consistency is the key. That's one area where we really have to look up and maintain the winning streak. That's how we are going to remain a good side," said Ganguly before joining in an intense practice session for his team on Thursday afternoon. Ganguly felt his side must carry forward the success of the last season to the current one since for the first time in his stint as captain he has a squad without injury worry. "We are in full strength. We have never been at full strength for quite some time. It raises expectations for the players. We won tournaments when not everyone was fit. Now all of us fit and we would just have to keep winning." The Indian captain said one of the offshoots of a fit team is that it has bowlers who could get past an opposition line up. "It's good to have bowling options. That's the reason why we have started to win overseas. You have bowlers who win the games. Then there are batters who put up runs on the board. You have a choice to pick your bowling as well as your batting unit." "Whether it is John or me we don't stop the natural instincts of the players. That's why we have aggressors in Sachin Tendulkar (Tendulkar) and (Virender) Shewag as openers, number three, four and five rotate around and then at six and seven you have guys who can play shots", Ganguly said. "We built batting around this philosophy so that's what we are going to stick to." For a team as good as he has at his disposal, Ganguly was almost wary in counting his team's chances against minnows like UAE, leave along for stronger oppositions like Pakistan and Sri Lanka . "It's a no-win situation for us against UAE because we don't know enough about them. "Then Pakistan will be a good team. Sri Lanka in home conditions is a very difficult side. We need to play really well. We are coming after a big break so we need to come into rhythm quickly." "It breeds healthy competition because they know they have to perform. That's the only way they could remain a part of the team." He said the side's failure to win the Asia Cup in previous two attempts would spur his players to do well in this regional competition. "There are a lot of Indian players who haven't won the Asia Cup and they want to do it this time around." Ganguly was delighted his boys were able to bat fluently in the tour opener practice game on Wednesday. "We had three match situations in Chennai and one here yesterday. So for most of the guys it is four games already played. "Playing games has helped because it is different bowling in the nets than playing in the match." He reaffirmed that there has been an active strategy in placing the line-up as India has done in recent past in One-Day Internationals. Also View In-Depth Coverage: Asia Cup 2004 Team Page: India Team Page: UAE | LIVE CRICKET COVERAGE NEWS ~ Gilchrist has no plans to retire after World Cup ~ Ganguly's new batting approach may cost him sixer record ~ India 'squash the Orange' in World Cup warm-up game ~ Symonds gets a new hairdo for World Cup ~ Dhoni readies himself for stand-up act at World Cup (more in NEWS) FACE-TO-FACE ~ 500-mark a possibility in World Cup: Hayden ~ Minnows add charm to World Cup: Dravid (more in FACE-TO-FACE) COLUMNS ~ Will Sri Lanka replicate 1996 World Cup success? (more in COLUMNS) OFF-THE-FIELD ~ Ganguly again the darling of corporate world ~ Ganguly roped in as brand ambassador of Puma (more in OFF-THE-FIELD) PLAYERS Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble (more PLAYERS) TEAMS India, South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Australia, West Indies, Zimbabwe, England, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Kenya, Holland | 
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