The Hindu : Sport : India has a job on its hands

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Sep 20, 2006
ePaper

Sport

Sport

India has a job on its hands

S. Ram Mahesh

PHOTO: S. SUBRAMANIUM

WHAT'S IN STORE? Rahul Dravid has a lot to chew on ahead of the West Indies clash.

Kuala Lumpur: The least complicated path to the DLF Cup final for Team India involves victories in its last two league games. The first of them — against West Indies at the Kinrara Oval on Wednesday — becomes doubly important, for, Rahul Dravid's men haven't managed to find a way past the islanders in limited-overs cricket for a while now.

Indeed, the last time India won an ODI, the date read May 18: the first game against West Indies at Jamaica. In six games since, the Men in Blue have lost five — albeit one a trifle unluckily on Duckworth-Lewis — to Brian Lara's men; the other, against Australia, was abandoned. Creating bogey sides is never a good idea; certainly not when one of them is due to host the World Cup.

Other methods

There are, of course, other ways of getting to the final. All of them, however, necessitate at least one win.

Should India lose on Wednesday, it will have to defeat Australia with a bonus point on Friday to draw level on points (7). While both sides will have the same number of wins (1) — the first criterion for breaking a tie — India's victory would have come against Australia, thereby settling the issue on the second criterion (head-to-head record).

If Wednesday's game is abandoned — it rained on Tuesday — India must still win on Friday, but needn't bother about the bonus point. Keeping track? Good, for there is more. If India defeats West Indies even with a bonus point, but loses to Australia — sorry, nice try, but no cigar.

Tricky situation

Where it gets positively tricky is if India beats West Indies with a bonus point, and Friday's game is abandoned, then a three-way tie will see West Indies make the final on most wins. India and Australia will be locked on the first three criteria: wins, head-to-head and number of bonus points. It'll come down to net run-rate, where Australia, currently, has the edge.

"This is a great opportunity for us to win two very important matches," said Indian coach Greg Chappell, cutting through the clutter of arithmetic. "We have quite a few of them coming up in the next few months."

India hasn't played as badly as the position it is in suggests. Sachin Tendulkar's unbeaten 141 helped his side run up 309, before the rain found a West Indian moment to let rip.

Against Australia, the bowlers fought back gallantly to restrict Ponting's men to 244. Again, rain intervened, first queering the pitch for India and then saving the blushes.

"We batted well in the first game, and bowled well in the second, so there are good signs," said Chappell. "I'm disappointed the rain against Australia didn't allow us to get an idea of where we were at. Truncated games are no guides."

Pathan's bowling

The bowling of Irfan Pathan (one wicket for 54 runs in six overs this tournament) has put India in a spot of bother. But, the fact that the team is looking to nurse him through the period in the hope he'll spark a turnaround should hearten Pathan.

Still only 21, Pathan — who it's reliably learnt will play on Wednesday — is the side's best chance of playing five bowlers, but if he continues in the same vein, India is, in essence, still taking the field with four bowlers, but at the cost of a genuine batsman.

"He has bowled better, there's no doubt about that," said Chappell, who said there will be changes from the previous game. "Again, for him to bowl better, he has to try different things, play different roles. That's not to say he won't be opening the bowling at some stage. It's a concern, but it's not something we'll lose sleep over."

The teams (from):

India: Rahul Dravid (capt.), Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Mohammad Kaif, Suresh Raina, Dinesh Mongia, M.S. Dhoni (wk), Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Ajit Agarkar, Munaf Patel, R.P. Singh, S. Sreesanth, Ramesh Powar.

West Indies: Brian Lara (capt), Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Wavell Hinds, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Marlon Samuels, Dwayne Bravo, Carlton Baugh (wk), Ian Bradshaw, Fidel Edwards, Corey Collymore, Jerome Taylor, Dwayne Smith, Runako Morton.

Umpires: Tony Hill (New Zealand) and Mark Benson (England). Third Umpire: Asad Rauf (Pakistan). Match Referee: Chris Broad.

Hours of play (IST): 11 a.m. to 2.30 p.m., 3.15 p.m. till close.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport