India's record win a waste of time, says Ganguly

Sourav Ganguly all but dismissed his side's record win over Kenya on Wednesday as a waste of time as he looked forward to the one-day tournament final against South Africa.

Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar both scored centuries and put on a world record stand of 258 for the first wicket out of a total of 351 for three as India won by 186 runs, their biggest win over the Kenyans.

But Ganguly said: "It wasn't really a useful exercise today.

"We wanted to have wickets in hand because we knew that if we didn't lose wickets early we could get any total against this side.

"The final will be completely different -- a totally new game."

The two meet on Friday in Durban.

"The best thing we can say about our three games against South Africa is that we've been in a position to win all three of them," Ganguly added.

Maurice Odumbe was realistic after Kenya's fifth defeat in six games, their one win coming against India in Port Elizabeth last Wednesday.

"We achieved our objectives here in South Africa by winning one of our games," the captain said. "Unfortunately, until our local league becomes stronger, there is no way we can compete on a regular basis against the best sides in the world.

"We expect to get a bit of hassle when we return after some of our performances here but the win over India should take the heat off."

Mail Cricket Editor