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 Ahmedabad,
Oct 7: The Indians hold a clear edge over New Zealand when the two
clash in the first of the two Test matches at Sardar Patel Stadium,
Motera, from tomorrow. The Indians, who will be going in with a new
pair of opening batsmen in dashing Virendra Sehwag and debutant
Akash Chopra, have an impressive batting line-up and the best of
bowling sides in the world. The team, led by Sourav Ganguly, boasts
of the best batsman in the world in Sachin Tendulkar, who would be
itching to score his 32nd Test hundred, which will put him on par
with Aussie skipper Steve Waugh, who had overtaken the Mumbai star
recently. The highest number of Test hundreds is held by another
Indian Sunil Gavaskar (34 centuries).
 At
one drop, the hosts have one of the most solid batsmen in
contemporary cricket in Rahul Dravid, the Wall, who has time and
again come up with important knocks when the chips are down followed
by Tendulkar in the number four position. The skipper himself is
slated to come at number five position, though he is short of a big
Test score for some time, this could be the ideal time for him to
strike form before the bigger challenges ahead like the tour to
Australia soon after the on-going home series. V V S Laxman, who
turned the tables on the formidable Aussies during their tour of
India a couple of years ago with a majestic 281, has a lot to prove
and would be raring to go, while local lad and wicketkeeper Parthiv
Patel is all set to play his first Test match on his home turf.
The hosts are
likely to go in with two spinners, leggie Anil Kumble, who needs
just three more wickets to become the second Indian bowler to take
350 or more Test wickets behind former India skipper Kapil Dev, and
off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, who was instrumental in destroying the
formidable Aussie batting line-up in 2000. The new ball attack too
has a couple of new faces in Mumbai speedster Avishkar Salvi and
Tamil Nadu paceman Laxmipathi Balaji, apart from the experienced
left arm seamer Zaheer Khan.
With the Indian
think-tank likely to opt for seven batsmen, including a
wicketkeeper, and four bowlers, either Salvi or Balaji could make it
to the playing eleven. Salvi has a slight edge over Balaji due to
consistent performance in the past year or so during his stint with
India 'A' team. Balaji, left handed batsman Yuvraj Singh and the
second leg spinner in the side Sairaj Bahutule might find themselves
on the reserves bench. (Agencies)
Published: Tuesday,
October 07, 2003
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