Friday, Nov 15, 2002
Friday, Nov 15, 2002 |
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Cricket
By G. Viswanath
The Indian team physio, Andrew Leipus helping speedster Javagal Srinath with his exercises.
Though the West Indies, outsmarted by India's spin in the Test series, won the first two matches, there was always the potential of a sequence of seven matches timetabled in different parts of the country to become a roller coaster ride for both the teams. As it transpired the home team, riding on the crest of Virender Sehwag's yet another remarkable `tour de force' performance at Rajkot, picked up the momentum to stay in the hunt for the title honours, although Ganguly and his team would have liked to have finished the third one-day International in the field and in a thunderous fashion. But the Duckworth-Lewis formula made India the winner by 81 runs. There was no doubt though as to which team would have won the match had the water bottle throwing incident not terminated the match after 27. 1 overs were bowled at Rajkot. Carl Hooper however did not agree that the match would have gone India's way. "Cricket is a funny game. Anything could have happened. We could have even won it,'' said Hooper. The West Indies manager Ricky Skerritt said he preferred cricket decisions to be determined on the field. So far it has been high scoring matches with the batsmen putting the bowlers in the shade. The first two matches dished out lively encounters, but the third one turned out to be the bowlers' nightmare. Hopefully from Motera where the fourth match would be played under lights (the only in the seven match series) there would be more serious fare with the bowlers getting semblance of help from the surface. The authorities are always tempted to provide a pitch of even bounce for a one-day international so that it delivers anything between 500 and 600 runs in 100 overs. Even the people in charge of preparing the pitches for the World Cup matches in South Africa are going to ensure that teams like Holland, Namibia and Canada get batsman-friendly pitches so that they are not skittled out for small scores. It has not been easy games at all for the West Indies, chasing near 300 targets before coming to Rajkot. Carl Hooper hit the nail on its head when he said that one never knows what's a safe total on Indian pitches. His team discovered it immediately in Rajkot where even an aggregate of 300 seemed to be too small, but then it was only the likes of Ganguly and Sehwag who made it so. Now that India has beaten the West Indies to trail 1-2, it ought not to be short on motivation. Captains have the habit of emphasising on maintaining momentum and consistency. The West Indies, appears to have got into its stride after the third Test, but Hooper's team will find the Indian team a bigger obstacle as the seven match series progresses from the half way stage. The two-day gap between matches has given sufficient time for the players to rest and recover at least in this part of the country. Ganguly flew to Kolkata to see his ailing father and will be flying into the city only on Thursday evening, which means that he will take the field on Friday without practising under lights. Top players hate to miss net practice and preparation because it helps them to sort out minor technical faults and be part of the team right through the series. The selectors picked Tamil Nadu's Laxmipathy Balaji who was India `A' team's front line bowler in South Africa and Sri Lanka early this year. They also recalled left arm spinner Murali Kartik, who said on Wednesday evening that he has fully recovered from his hand injury. So India will go into the match without Kumble and Agarkar. But then no way could have Ganguly fought for Agarkar after his listless bowling at Rajkot. Ganguly will have to depend on Javagal Srinath and Ashish Nehra, both lacking the aggression of Zaheer Khan. After coming out of retirment Srinath has bowled well within himself and has given breakthroughs. At the moment Kumble has been dropped for Kartik, though the leg spinner should be still considered a strong candidate for the World Cup campaign. Ganguly will have faith in Kumble's leg spin than the variety Kartik's brings in. Harbhajan Singh who had a decent spell at Rajkot and got the wicket of Gayle, remains in the front line spinner. Ganguly bowled more than a useful spell and took the wicket of Samuels in the last match. He could do with more bowling and share ten overs with Sehwag. If India can get between 10 and 15 overs from Ganguly, Sehwag and Jai Prakash Yadav or Sanjay Bangar it can make a big difference. The Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA) and the City police have made elaborate security arrangements for the match. But the West Indies team which walked out of the match Rajkot, might just about do the same should its players face physical harm. At a press conference in the evening, Carl Hooper said he hopes to be fit for the match. He said that it's probably the quality of the bowling which has resulted in high scores. "I don't know if so many runs could have been scored off the Australian bowling. From the West Indies point of view I can say that we have to be a little more disciplined.'' In the absence of Ganguly, Rahul Dravid said that this is the last set of matches for the selectors to identify the players for the World Cup. "The team for the Cup would have been selected by the time we start playing the one-day matches in New Zealand.''Dravid stood in defence of the bowlers saying: "The pitches have been hard on the bowlers. It's was a morale boosting win for India at Rajkot. We have to keep it going and repeat the performance here. We have to really play well here. Sehwag was fantastic. He was all class and style. He is very exciting to watch. He is great for the team. Also there's healthy competition with Laxman too in form.'' Both Hooper and Dravid said that the teams will have to take into consideration factors like the pitch and dew before finalising the team for the match. In the afternoon some of the Indian cricketers attended a function organised by the Society for the Promotion of Rational Thinking (SPRAT) to promote communal harmony. The West Indies manager Ricky Skerritt said on Thursday that ` should there be a real threat or risk' to his players he would not be prepared to tolerate it and would not hesitate to take action and reporting it to the authorities.'' "We do not come for a cricket match with preconceived notions. Providing security is the job of the local association and the local police. Never did the Match Referee ask us to resume play at Rajkot. In fact he (Mike Procter) led the West Indies team off the field,'' clarified Skerritt. Regarding the security arrangements for the match here to be played on Friday he said: "We are here to play cricket and we hope to play a good game of cricket tomorrow. We don't anticipate problems.'' He also dismissed suggestions that events at Rajkot were blown out of proportion by people. "I do not believe so. There were instances the Match Referee was fully aware of like stones and a plastic bag with dirty water being thrown at the West Indies players.'' The teams: India (from): Sourav Ganguly (Captain), Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, Venkatsai Laxman, Yuveraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Javagal Srinath, Ashish Nehra, Harbhajan Singh, Jai Prakash Yadav, Murali Kartik, Sanjay Bangar, Parthiv Patel, Dinesh Mongia and Laxmipathy Balaji West Indies (from): Carl Hooper (Captain), Wavell Hinds, Chris Gayle, Marlon Samuels, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ridley Jacobs, Mervyn Dillon, Pedro Collins, Vasbert Drakes, Mahendra Nagamootoo, Cameron Cuffy, Ryan Hinds, Ricardo Powell and Corey Collymore. Umpires: Messrs. Asoka de Silva and K. Hariharan. Third: I. Sivaram. Fourth: Francis Gomes; Match Referee: Mike Procter Hours of Play: 2. 30 p.m. to 6 p.m.; 6. 45 p.m onwards.
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