Getting rid of Sachin, Sanath will be crucial: Ganguly

Mumbai, May 15 (UNI) Kolkata Knight Riders will target early dismissal of Sachin Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasuriya in their match against Mumbai Indians tomorrow.

In a prematch press conference, Kolkata Knight Riders Captain Sourav Ganguly said, ''We have to get rid of Sachin and Sanath early in the match, to get the better of Mumbai Indians.'' ''With Sachin back and Sanath striking form, it will be a close game,'' he added.

Ganguly also felt that they had a good bowling attack for this wicket, which has bounce. Ajit Agarkar's good pace can back up Shoaib Akhtar and Ishant Sharma.

On the top order batting problems of his team, Ganguly said Kolkata Knight Riders was one of the most affected teams, whose players have been leaving for national duty. Therefore they had to play differently getting Akash Chopra to open, who is not a natural Twenty20 player. ''It has, however, worked for us and we hope that it continues to do so,'' he added.

To a question on whether the performances of the opening bowlers and batsmen will prove to be crucial to them, Ganguly said though the opening partnerships are crucial, it will be performance of all the 11 players which will count in the end.

Ganguly said, ''IPL has debunked the theory that Twenty20 is a young man's game and has proved, what I also believed that it is the performance of the player, which counts and not his age.'' UNI GS SR RKM BD2120