Ganguly - not among Kenya's critics (Getty Images)

By Myles Hodgson, PA Sport, Durban

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Sourav Ganguly has awarded Kenya an unexpected compliment on the eve of their World Cup semi-final meeting at Kingsmead by giving them begrudging praise for their surprise progress during the tournament.

While many critics have dismissed Kenya's participation in the last four as evidence of the tournament's flawed format, India captain Ganguly broke from his own tradition to talk up the opposition and their performances during the competition.

Instead of his trademark reserved responses to questions about the opposition, Ganguly opened up to reveal his admiration for a side regarded as outsiders throughout the competition yet which has exceeded expectations to reach the latter stages.

"We're playing in a World Cup semi-final so you can't expect them to be a weak side and we're going to have to play well," stressed Ganguly.

"They've surprised quite a few teams in this tournament and we're really going to have to play to the top of our game if we're going to win this semi-final.

"It doesn't matter that they don't have any big names in their line-up, it's how you play out on the field that matters and so far they've played really well to get to this semi-final.

"You don't just wake up and get into a World Cup semi-final, you have to play well to get there and they've done that.

"To me they are as good as any other side in this tournament because they've made it to the last four in a World Cup."

Those statements alone should alarm Kenya, coming from a man who is renowned for his responses to the opposition and his dismissive tone when asked about other teams, an attitude which has helped bond India into the only side capable of challenging Australia's dominance during the World Cup.

Of course Ganguly could not maintain such a spirit of admiration and reverted to type when asked about the two sides' recent meeting during the Super Sixes, when the captain's century guided them to a six-wicket victory in Cape Town after they had slipped to 24 for three chasing Kenya's impressive total of 225 for six.

"They fought hard but we were 50% off our game," claimed Ganguly.

"The Kenya game is the only one in this tournament where we fielded poorly and dropped six chances and we still managed to win by six wickets - we weren't at the top of our game then and tomorrow we need to do that if we're going to win."

The biggest factor in deciding who qualifies to meet Australia in Sunday's final at the Wanderers could be the weather after two days of almost incessant rain in Durban which threatens to force the authorities to utilise Friday's reserve day.

The Kingsmead surface was already soaked following Tuesday evening's electrical storms before further rain reduced the prospect of play tomorrow even further, increasing India's chances of qualification.

If the weather washes out both days, India will qualify for the final because they finished higher in the Super Sixes table than Kenya although the authorities could complete the tie with either a reduced overs match or even a game decided by the Duckworth-Lewis method.

"It's raining a bit for the last two days and we need to keep an eye on the weather because it does tend to rain in the night in Durban," conceded Ganguly.

"To be honest whoever wins the toss is going to bat first anyway. It is really damp because of the rain, but the covers are so good these days you don't need to worry about it.

"You have to keep an eye on things in the evening because at 25 overs of the reply it's a match so that's obviously going to be in my mind.

"It will be the coaches' job to pass onto me whether I'm batting or fielding about where we are with the Duckworth-Lewis target."

India are expected to name an unchanged team having progressed to this stage of the tournament with the same line-up, hoping the five days since their last match against New Zealand at Centurion will not have hindered their chances.

"Five days waiting for a semi-final is quite long and it takes some doing," added Ganguly.

"We only had two days break between most of our World Cup games so this break will have probably helped us and we've worked hard during that time.

"We've trained, been to the gym and got back into the nets and I don't think it will affect our momentum."