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A psychological duel before the final

S. Dinakar

— Photo: V. Ganesan

GEARING UP: India ‘A’ players during a practice session in Chennai on Tuesday.

Chennai: Psychologically, the face-off before the final could be critical for both sides. Australia ‘A’ is likely to target Yusuf Pathan in the last league game of the one-day tri-nation series at Chepauk on Wednesday.

“We will bounce more at him, test him with short-pitched deliveries,” said Australia ‘A’ skipper Cameron White. How will Yusuf respond? Yusuf maintained he is sound off the back-foot, can respond with the cut and the pull. An engrossing duel under the sun beckons.

In fact, much of the talk around Wednesday’s game centred on Yusuf. The Aussies have their plans in place but would the host play the mind game itself by resting Yusuf; a bruise on his right elbow could be a convenient excuse.

That Yusuf occupies the thoughts of the Aussies is a tribute to the cricketer.

Cameron may play

The Aussies, who have only 12 cricketers in the squad for the last two games including the final, are likely to give paceman Mark Cameron a fling.

Assistant coach Justin Sternes revealed that there could be changes in the batting order — some of the middle-order batsmen could be promoted to the top order — so that every batsman spends some time in the middle ahead of the final.

For India ‘A’, batting remains a worry.

Robin Uthappa and Suresh Raina have not fired so far; the top-order has caved in putting the middle-order under immense pressure.

S. Badrinath played a match-winning innings at Uppal against the Kiwis, however, the feisty batsman has now joined the Rest of India side for the Irani Trophy game . Rohit Sharma has shown glimpses of form without actually constructing a sizable innings.

India ‘A’ think-tank will be forced to find a replacement for Badrinath; the hard-hitting Abhishek Nayar is an option. The team-management might also be tempted to include batsman Ravi Teja.

The other side of the argument would be to provide key off-form players another game to regain their touch.

Outstanding show

There have been fewer problems for the host in bowling, where Irfan Pathan and Praveen Kumar have been outstanding in their first spells. Piyush Chawla has bowled his leg-spin with a fair measure of thought and craft.

Raina, who has sent down his part-time off-spin usefully, slips into the role of the captain.

He has a good cricketing mind.

The Aussies have a well rounded attack with skipper White’s leg-spin and Xavier Doherty’s tight left-arm spin complementing the pacemen.

Sparks could fly at Chepauk…even in a dead-rubber league game.

The teams (from):

India ‘A’: S. Raina (capt.), R. Uthappa, S. Asnodkar, R. Sharma, D. Karthik, Y. Pathan, A. Nayar, I. Pathan, P. Chawla, P. Kumar, D. Kulkarni, R. Teja, J. Shah, W. Saha.

Australia ‘A’: C. White (capt.), P. Hughes, L. Ronchi, D. Hussey, A. Voges, M. North, G. Baily, A. Noffke, B. Geeves, X. Doherty, M. Cameron, S. Tait.

Umpires: T.R. Kashyappan & S. Ravi. Match Referee: S. Banerjee.

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