India need to score heavily to defeat WI: Ganguly

Kolkata, Jan 14 (UNI) Sourav Ganguly today said India needed to put up runs on the board to give competition to West Indies (WI) in the upcoming home series.

Ganguly said this at a function where he was felicitated by Tata Indicom.

Returning to the shorter version of the game after being laid off for about 14 months, Ganguly said off late India had not done well against West Indies as they could not put up runs on the board.

''We need to score runs, then only we can give them competition,'' Ganguly said.

Asked what would be a good score to counter the caribbeans, Ganguly said,'' Anything in the region of 280 and above will be a competitive score.'' On the question of his preference to come up the batting order, Ganguly reiterated he was prepared to play in any position the team wants him to play. ''I had opened the batting with Sachin and has been quite successful. I will be comfortable opening the batting with him again if asked to do so.''.

When asked about his own form the former Indian skipper said, ''I have done well against South Africa in South Africa and each match was a huge confidence booster and I hope to carry my form into the home series.'' On making a comeback in the shorter version of the game, Ganguly had said he was expecting a call after his performance in South Africa.

Ganguly had been in an elegant touch after scoring 122 runs of 118 balls in the last Ranji tie against Rajasthan.

Ganguly leaves for Nagpur on January 16, where he plays the ODI on January 21.

UNI