The Hindu : Sport : Indians brimming with confidence

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Thursday, Oct 11, 2007
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Indians brimming with confidence

S. Dinakar

Skipper winning the toss would like to take first strike

— Photo: AP

SPECIAL OCCASION: Sachin Tendulkar, seen with Yuvraj Singh and Rohit Sharma, will be eager to make his 400th ODI appearance a memorable one.

Vadodara: Arguably, no game relies as much on conditions as cricket does. The teams will grapple with different challenges at the IPCL ground in the pivotal fifth Future Cup ODI here on Thursday.

The pitch of a brownish hue appears inviting. In the last ODI here, against the West Indies early this year, India raced to 341 for three after being inserted.

In the same match, the Caribbeans made just 181 during the chase as the Indian spinners called the shots. Dry and dusty conditions do suit the spinners, especially in the second half of the game.

The sun beats down relentlessly and this suggests that a few cracks could open up in the surface by late afternoon. Putting the runs on the board and then turning to spin would suit India.

However, travelling further back to the seventh ODI between India and Sri Lanka in late 2005, early strikes by the Indian pacemen rocked the visitors. Reduced to 80 four in the morning, the Lankans never really recovered.

Bat first

In the day games in these parts, the teams need to see through the first hour with minimum loss of wickets to cash in on the subsequent wear and tear in the wicket. Under the circumstances, the skipper winning the toss is likely to bat.

The Indians, after a rare win over the Aussies in Chandigarh, will not be lacking in confidence and hope. Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men would have also realised that aggression pays... even against the foremost of teams.

With the Australians leading 2-1, the series is intriguingly poised. The verdict here will have major ramifications in the context of the series. An Australian win here would ensure that the visitors will not lose the series. Then, it would become extremely hard for the Indians to win back-to-back games against the World champion.

Thursday’s game before a sell-out crowd will be Sachin Tendulkar’s 400th ODI for the country; the maestro would be the first Indian to achieve the feat. In his last ODI here, he destroyed the West Indian attack with a 76-ball unbeaten century batting at No. 4.

Tendulkar will, however, be opening with Sourav Ganguly on Thursday. Happily for India, he has recovered well from a sprained knee.

The Indian batting functioned well in the fourth ODI and the bowlers held their nerve. Rudra Pratap Singh and Murali Kartik bowled well at the death.

India still faces formidable barriers in the in-form Matthew Hayden and Andrew Symonds. Both are dominant batsmen who can play the waiting game.

Perhaps, the Indian left-arm new-ball combination of Zaheer Khan and R. P. Singh should probe Hayden by taking the new ball away from the left-hander while operating from over-the-wicket. Hayden can be vulnerable to this line early in his innings and, perhaps, the Indians can take the gamble of employing an additional slip.

Symonds can be frustrated if he is denied pace on the ball. It must, however, be mentioned here that the decision to replace the ball after the 35th over has benefited the batsmen in these conditions since the harder ball travels quicker off the willow. The runs have come thick and fast in the end overs.

Puzzling omission

Someone like Brad Haddin certainly used a harder ball to drill holes in the gaps. But then, the puzzling omission of the innovative Haddin has left Australia without a finisher.

The Aussie bowlers will be striving to be more consistent with their line, as 31 wides in an innings do not reflect well on the World champion.

The teams (from):

India: M.S. Dhoni (capt.), S. Tendulkar, S. Ganguly, R. Uthappa, R. Dravid, Yuvraj Singh, I. Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, M. Kartik, Zaheer Khan,, R. P. Singh,, S. Sreesanth, Rohit Sharma, D. Karthik and S. Badrinath..

Australia: R. Ponting (capt.), A. Gilchrist, M. Hayden, M. Clarke, A. Symonds, B. Hodge, J. Hopes, B. Hogg, B. Lee, S. Clark, N. Bracken, M. Johnson B. Haddin, B. Hilfenhaus and A. Voges.

Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pak) and Amit Sahiba (Ind); Third umpire: Suresh Shastri; Match referee: Chris Broad.

Play starts at 9 a.m.

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