da wazamba： India head into Wednesday’s game against West Indies seeking their firstone-day win since May 18.
da betsul： Preview by Dileep Premachandran in Kuala Lumpur19-Sep-2006
The West Indies gameplan will be to get both of them early © Getty Images
India head into Wednesday’s game against West Indies seeking their firstone-day win since May 18. It’s been a depressing turnaround for a sidethat played such superb one-day cricket for most of last season, and itwill need two very good performances, or some assistance from the weathergods, if they’re to avoid an early flight home.West Indies, guaranteed a place in the final after clinching their secondwin of the tournament against Australia on Monday night, may tinker withthe combination, with Runako Morton certain to come into the middle order.Corey Collymore, “one of the first names on the team-sheet”, according toBrian Lara, may also play, provided he recovers from a right thighproblem.Morton is likely to replace Dwayne Bravo, who has a slight swelling on hiswrist after diving forward in an attempt to catch Matthew Hayden, andCollymore, if he plays, should take Jerome Taylor’s place. Chris Gayle andMarlon Samuels will provide the slow-bowling option, while Wavell Hinds’medium pace may also come into play.”We still want to win the game, and we’ve got to play the type of cricketwe’ve been playing before,” said Gayle, whose blistering 79 played abig part in the defeat of Australia. And though he had clattered theIndian bowling to all parts when the teams met last week, Gayle made itclear that there was no question of taking things lightly. Asked if bothsets of pace bowlers were struggling, he said: “India have a good attackwith [Munaf] Patel and [Ajit] Agarkar opening the bowling now. We’re notgoing to take them for granted. Our guys started well against Australiaand we just have to maintain the discipline right through the game.”Greg Chappell, India’s coach, hinted at changes, and Sreesanth could getthe nod ahead of Rudra Pratap Singh as the team searches for morepenetration in the pace department. The batting line-up is unlikely to bedisturbed, with the slump in wet conditions against Australia beingconsidered more an aberration than anything else. “We haven’t picked theteam for tomorrow’s game yet,” said Chappell. “I wouldn’t say big changes,no, but there will be some.”Though he qualified it by saying it wasn’t cast in stone, Chappell alsosuggested that India would continue with Irfan Pathan in the No.3position, leaving the middle order slots to Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh,Suresh Raina and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, each of whom will fancy clearingthe ropes at the rather small Kinrara Oval.Given Lara’s fluency against the turning ball, India are unlikely to riskRamesh Powar, leaving the spin burden with Harbhajan Singh, Sehwag andYuvraj Singh, if needed. The onus though will be on the batsmen toreplicate their form of the opening game, when Sachin Tendulkar led theway with a glorious unbeaten 141. Talking about the experience of bowlingto one of the game’s greats, Bravo said: “He played very well that day,and he picked up my slower ball. I didn’t get anything right that day, butI wasn’t really putting myself under any pressure because he’s one of thebest in the world.”The team’s game-plan is to get him early. He’s the backbone of the team -him and Rahul – and I think if we get both of them early, they are in forsome trouble. I think the Indians will be under a lot of pressure. I mustsay that they are a very good one-day team. If they don’t win, I thinkthey won’t qualify and that’s bad news for India.”With no win in their last six matches, India desperately need to turn acorner. And having been pushed into one by a combination of their ownfrailties and the weather, only a tigerish display will get their seasonup and running. It’s time for the big boys to stand up, snarl a little andfight their way out of trouble.India: 1 Sachin Tendulkar, 2 Rahul Dravid (capt), 3 Irfan Pathan, 4Virender Sehwag, 5 Yuvraj Singh, 6 Suresh Raina, 7 Mahendra Singh Dhoni(wk), 8 Ajit Agarkar, 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 S Sreesanth, 11 Munaf Patel.West Indies: 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 3 RamnareshSarwan, 4 Brian Lara (capt), 5 Marlon Samuels, 6 Runako Morton, 7 WavellHinds, 8 Dwayne Smith, 9 Carlton Baugh (wk), 10 Ian Bradshaw, 11 CoreyCollymore.
