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© CricInfo

Shaun Pollock and Sourav Ganguly are face to face to each other in more than one respect. They started their Test career in 1996 and both came to the helm within a couple of months of each other last year. They also took over the captaincy mantle at a point of crisis in their country's cricket--South Africa was reeling by the exposures of Hansie Cronje and in India, a disastrous tour of Australia was followed by an equally humiliating defeat against the South Africans and what is more captain Sachin Tendulkar declined to lead the side any longer.

Now the two are protagonists for the Test series, quietly and surely in control of their respective teams, and hopes of millions of supporters in their respective countries. They also seem to reserve that extra-bit against each other--Ganguly had unfailingly and nonchalantly smashed sixes against Pollock in the one-day series till he came a cropper against his counterpart in the finals at Kingsmead, Durban last Friday. The two chose to express their own viewpoints on critical issues on the eve of the first Test and not surprisingly are at odds on most of them.

Excerpts:

Q: the Indian captain has gone hammer and tongs against his South African counterpart in the one-day series. Is the Test series going to show a similar pattern?

Ganguly: One-day matches are now a history. As they say, you start your next innings on zero. Test matches are going to be a different ball game altogether.

Pollock: I don't need to settle any scores with Ganguly now. I think I settled it quite effectively in the match, which mattered, the final of the one-day series.

Q: South Africa, it is said, is very close to upstaging Australia as the top-Test playing nation of the world. Do you really think they are as aggressive as the Australians and as good as well?

Ganguly: Australia are playing quite superior to anyone in international cricket at this stage. They have four match-winning bowlers now in Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie, Brett Lee and Shane Warne. I don't know if South Africa has a similar firepower.

Pollock: I think we are as positive in our approach as Australia is. But obviously, we don't go with a set frame of mind, with a set pattern. We got to be flexible to adapt ourselves to different situations.

Q: How do you look at the respective strengths of your two sides?

Ganguly: I really feel we have a middle order, which is now firmly settled. We also have variety in our attack, with a right and left-arm paceman and an off-break and a leg-break bowler. We have the men to do the job in the Test series.

Pollock: I think are intensity has only stepped up in recent times. We are now more focussed and confident than at the start of the season. Everyone knows his role quite well.

Q: Do you think the Indian spinners are going to be a factor in the Test series?

Ganguly: I don't know about the factor as such, but these two guys (Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh) are quality players and have done well in the one-day series. They know exactly how to bowl to these batsmen on these tracks.

Pollock: They are a class act and have done well throughout the world. They would trouble any line-up on any surface. They are going to be a big test for us.

Q: How big do you think the Indian left-arm pacemen are going to be in this series?

Ganguly: I have high hopes from both (Ashish) Nehra and (Zaheer) in this series. Not only are these two guys quality bowlers but also they are an unknown breed to the South Africans who haven't played too much against left-arm pacemen in recent times.

Pollock: I don't think we would have any problems against the Indian left-arm pacemen. We have played a few left-arm quickies in the last two years, both against New Zealand and Sri Lanka.

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