10 March 2004	Wednesday	18 Muharram 1425

KOLKATA, March 9: Indian skipper Saurav Ganguly on Tuesday said his team was not worried at the prospect of facing speedster Shoaib Akhtar on their upcoming tour of Pakistan.

"We are not worried about Shoaib and feel the pressure is on him since he is leading the attack against India for the first time," Ganguly told reporters at the end of a three-day training camp here.

Shoaib, known as the "Rawalpindi Express", is feared by batsmen the world over but Ganguly said the speed demon would have his work cut out trying to single-handedly rip through India's in-form batting line-up.

"With Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis not around any more, things will be different for him," said Ganguly as the team prepared to embark on their first full tour of Pakistan in almost 15 years.

India, who last played a Test series in Pakistan in 1989 but made a week-long tour in 1997 for three One-day Internationals, are due to play five one-dayers and three Tests across the border.

Ganguly conceded that India's own bowling attack for the one-dayers looked depleted in the absence of injured seamer Ajit Agarkar and spinners Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh. -AFP