Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly declared that he is fit to play the Platinum Jubilee One-Day International against Pakistan in Kolkata on November 13, but said a final decision on his availability would have to be taken by team physio Andrew Leipus.
"I am feeling okay but Andrew (Leipus) will have to judge," Ganguly told reporters in Kolkata on Wednesday after the Bengal-Karnataka four-day Ranji Trophy cricket encounter.
He also indicated that his fitness test may take place tomorrow when Leipus arrives, but emphasised that after the Ranji outing, he is ready for the important match on Saturday.
To a query whether he pushed himself for the Ranji match to prove his fitness, he said, "Yes, I did push myself into the match. I opted to play this match as I was injured for the last two weeks and was not sure of going into a high pressure match without some match practice."
Although Ganguly failed with the bat in both the innings of the match, he expressed satisfaction over the match practice he got in the four-day tie after a long lay-off.
"I have got good match practice. It is good that I played this match ahead of the Pakistan match and the important series against South Africa," the Indian skipper said.
When asked to comment on his batting blues, Ganguly said: "If you consider the Ranji match you are right, but I was top scorer in the last two one-day series."
Ganguly, who had scores of 45, 5 and 9 in the three innings he played in the Test series against Australia, had scores of 90 and 0 in the two Champions Trophy matches and 24, 7 and 90 in the three NatWest Trophy matches against England in September this year.
"My only failure with the bat was in Chennai," Ganguly said.
Asked about the chances against Pakistan, the Indian skipper said that in one-dayers it depends on how you play on a given day. I hope we play well in the Eden Gardens."
When reminded that India had lost to Pakistan at the Eden in the last match that the two teams played here, he said, it is all in the past.
"It is just like that we won against Pakistan in Pakistan, they have now won three back-to-back against us," he added.
To a query whether he would prefer opening in the match against Pakistan, Ganguly said, "I have not decided yet, I have to speak to John Wright in this regard. But I have mostly opened in the one-dayers. It is only after Sehwag came and the way he played that I went down to number three spot."
