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 Mumbai,
Oct 31: Having dented the Australian pride with a comfortable win in
Gwalior, India may have to brace themselves up for a likely backlash
from the world champions when they meet for the second time in the
triangular series one-day match here tomorrow. The Indians will be
eager to capitalise on the second-string Australian bowling attack
and keep the momentum going in what promises to be pulsating
day-and-night encounter at the Wankhede Stadium. After a
disappointing start to the series when they were clobbered by Sachin
Tendulkar and Venkatsai Laxman for a 37-run day-night defeat at
Gwalior last week, the Aussies seemed to have got their campaign
back on track with an eight-wicket demolition of arch-rivals New
Zealand in Faridabad on Wednesday.
 The home team was
leading the points table with eight points from two matches and a
victory against the formidable Australians will help them
consolidate their position for a berth in the final. The world
champions, on the other hand, were just one point behind the Indians
and Ricky Ponting and his men were unlikely to give anything on a
platter to the hosts. New Zealand, the other team in the fray, ere
at the bottom of the table with three points. What must have been
particularly pleasing to captain Ponting was the performance of new
ball bowlers Brad Williams and Nathan Bracken who sliced through the
Kiwi batting line-up in devastating fashion in Faridabad.
Coming in as
replacements for frontline fast bowlers Glenn McGrath, Jason
Gillespie and Brett Lee who are out due to injuries, Bracken and
Williams have proved Ponting right when he said on arrival that the
fringe players of the three-time world champions were as good as the
first eleven. The Aussie pacers got a lot of assistance from the
Faridabad track and could find the going much tougher at the
Wankhede stadium which was likely to favour the batsmen.
 The
victory must have given a lot of confidence to the Indians and
captain Rahul Dravid, standing-in for Sourav Ganguly who is
recovering from an abscess on his left thigh, handled the team well.
Dravid made some intelligent bowling changes to stem the Aussie
onslaught and was flexible with the batting order, by promoting Ajit
Agarkar in the slog overs. "Flexibility is very important in
one-day cricket and the captain will decide over the batting order
for tomorrow also as per the situation," Indian coach John
Wright said.
"Like the
captains change or shuffle the bowlers around, even in batting order
one should have flexibility which could lead to the success of the
team like it happened in Gwalior, Wright said. It would be
interesting to see how Tendulkar and Co. treat Williams and the rest
of the Australian attack whom they punished in the last match. A win
here tomorrow would add credibility to the previous win and soothe
further their psyche which might still be haunted by the ghosts of
the humiliating World Cup final loss.
 The
Aussies, as skipper Ponting acknowledged have learnt their lessons
from the Gwalior debacle and will go into the crucial tie with
revenge in their minds. "Though we did not win in Gwalior, we
learnt our lessons. We learnt how to play one-day cricket here in
India," Ponting said. The hosts will be looking up to Sachin
Tendulkar, playing in his own backyard, to come up with another
substantial contribution. The batting maestro has been particularly
severe on the Aussies in recent times and and would be eager to
display his batting might in front of his home crowd.
Although the
Kangaroos have a formidable batting line with the likes of in-form
Matthew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist, Ponting, Damien Martyn, Micheal
Bevan and Andrew Symonds in their ranks, the bowling has been the
worrying factor. The Indians, on the other hand, have a reasonably
balanced outfit though some of the key players like Ganguly and
speedsters Javagal Srinath and Ashish Nehra have been forced to sit
out because of injuries. The hosts were likely to retain the same
team that won the match at Gwalior though the final eleven would be
announced tomorrow after having another close look at the Wankhede
track. The Aussies would also decide their playing eleven tomorrow.
All the tickets for
the day-night encounter has been sold out, an indication of the keen
interest the clash has generated. (Agencies)
Published: Friday,
October 31, 2003
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