Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly today said his team is capable of winning a few games on its current tour of Australia as it is "not hampered by a negative mindset", as was the case with teams of the 1990s.
"It is not like the '90s. We do not suffer from a negative mindset which hampered Indians on tour," Ganguly, who has led the side to overseas Test victories in recent times, told reporters at Melbourne.
"We have actually come on in the last two-three years."
Though a Test series victory has eluded the Indians in the last 17 years, Ganguly is banking on his young side to "try and win games" against the world champions on this tour.
"A lot of our guys are young, but they know what is expected of them... we will try to live up to our expectations," he said, adding that the players know well the enormity of the task at hand.
"It's tough touring Australia and winning games against the world champions, but we will try to win games. I don't mind losing a few as long as I win a few games," said Ganguly, who is on his third tour of Australia and first as captain.
In chasing wins, Ganguly is up against the record books, which show that India were thrashed 4-0 and 3-0 on their last two tours and have won only three of 28 Tests in Australia, the last in 1981.
Another daunting statistic that will not be lost on Ganguly is that the Australians have lost only two of their last 37 home Tests.
Ganguly said his side's goal could be achieved if they stayed focussed and tried to be aggressive -- a facet that served them well in India two years ago when they busted Steve Waugh's dream by winning a three-Test series 2-1.
"The 2001 series [in India] was a great one and it was achieved because we backed ourselves," the skipper said.
Ganguly was mindful of India's poor record in Australia, but took heart from the fact they have won against every other international team in the last one and a half years, barring, of course, the world champions.
"We have done well against every other team in the last one and half years abroad, except Australia, and it means we have improved," said Ganguly, looking fit after an injury that saw him miss out on a Test and most of the games of the TVS Cup triangular series, including the final, back home recently.
Ganguly also dismissed the belief that New Zealanders alone have planned to perfection how to tame the Australians in their own den. "I am not sure about that," he said. "New Zealand played three Tests in the series and a lot of those games were rain-affected." New Zealand drew that series against Australia two years ago, with neither side winning any match.
Ganguly said his side had prepared well against the Australians and he himself had benefited a great deal from six days he spent with former Australian captain Greg Chappell in Sydney a few months ago.
"It was great spending those six days with Greg," he said. "He is a great character and very engaging on the craft of batting. I spent six days with him and learnt a few things which I put to good use in the Ahmedabad Test where I hit a century against the New Zealanders."
Ganguly, who is considered suspect against short-pitched bowling and usually receives a barrage of high-bouncing deliveries from fast bowlers, is likely to receive plenty of them on the present tour as well.
