Pak a strong side even without Akhtar: Sourav

<div class="section1"><div align="left" style="position:relative; left: -2"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" align="left" border="0" width="27.0%"> <colgroup> <col width="100.0%" /> </colgroup> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" f3f3f3=""> <div class="Normal"><img src="/photo/1031770.cms" alt="/photo/1031770.cms" border="0" /></div> </td> </tr> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" f3f3f3=""> <div class="Normal" style="" text-align:="" center=""><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">Sourav is relieved to have a fully fit Sachin for the Pak series</span></div> </td> </tr> </table></div> <div class="Normal"><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">NAGPUR, feb 24</span>: "It''s unfair to say that East Zone are a weak side," declared captain Sourav Ganguly after their innings-and-149-run win over Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) XI in a Duleep Trophy game at the VCA stadium.<br /> <br />Ganguly disagreed with the impression that all strong teams (West, South, North) are put in one group of this domestic tournament, while East, Central and BCB XI are in the other group.The top team from each group will play the final here from March 8, also the opening day of the first India-Pakistan Test. <br /><br />"East Zone reached the Duleep Trophy final last year and won the Deodhar Trophy. I think on the performance of last season, the groups have been made. So the Board must have considered that before forming the groups," said Ganguly. <br /><br />His guess is incorrect. The Board office simply put all six teams in one basket and a draw of lots decided who goes where. <br /><br />A closer look at the way ATP, the leaders of the tennis circuit, do it — giving seedings to the top eight players before deciding their groups in the year-end championships — might make for less lopsided groups. <br /> <br />The other teams in the Duleep Trophy have closer contests, while there was an innings victory here. It should be noted that East reached the final of the Duleep Trophy last season when the Indian stars were busy with international cricket. <br /><br />But now, for the large part of the Duleep trophy, the cream of national talent was available. Furthermore, East Zone have only one team (Bengal) in the Elite division of the Ranji Trophy and only one player (captain Ganguly) assured of his place in the India XI. <br /><br />Here are the skipper''s thoughts on other key issues: <br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">On his knock here: </span><br /><br />It is important to get runs before a series against Pakistan. This was only my second first-class game after the Bangladesh tour. I wanted to get as much practice as possible and spent some time in the middle and probably played a bit of patient knock. To go from 126-4 to 450-plus was a good effort by Shukla and myself. <br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">On Advantage India without Shoaib Akhtar? </span><br /><br />You can''t say that. They are still a strong side. <br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">On Tendulkar''s fitness: </span><br /><br />He said in Hyderabad that he is 100 per cent fit. That solves all the problems and answers all the questions. If he says he is 100 per cent fit, he is 100 per cent fit. <br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">On any instructions about pitch preparation for the Pakistan series: </span><br /><br />I haven''t spoken to anyone. </div> </div>