|
 India are likely to bring in paceman Javagal Srinath and all-rounder Sanjay Bangar in place of Ashish Nehra and J P Yadav as the home team go into the second one-day international against West Indies here tomorrow hoping to make amends for their loss in the first match. Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly, who was to reach the city yesterday, arrived this morning with 17-year-old wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel, not named in the one-day squad, fuelling speculations that there could be more than two changes for tomorrow’s match.
BCCI secretary S K Nair confirmed from Thiruvananthapuram that Patel had been asked to join the team as a stand-bye for vice-captain Rahul Dravid, who had cramps in his legs during the Jamshedpur match. The team management wanted Patel to be with the team for this match and the next one in Rajkot in case Dravid has fitness problems and is not able to keep wickets, Nair added.
With the Indians trailing the seven-match one-day series 0-1, the hosts will go all out to level the scores here on a newly laid ground which looks lush green with not a single patch of brown anywhere. With so much of grass on the pitch the hosts are likely to go in with three pacemen
Srinath, Bangar and Ajit Agarkar. This combination will also strengthen their batting line-up with both Srinath and Bangar (as opener) getting useful runs in the just concluded three-match Test series.
Ganguly, who has had a very poor series so far with the bat, would be looking for a big score here as he has got a century (130 not out) against Sri Lanka in 1998-99. Ganguly also has best bowling figures for an Indian (4 for 21) against the Sri Lankans in the same match. The other opening batsman Virender Sehwag too would be rearing to go after his fine performances in the Test series while Agarkar, who scored an attacking 95 runs in the first one-dayer as a one-drop batsman, would be eager to prove that it was not a flash in the pan.
V V S Laxman, who has taken over Sachin Tendulkar’s number four slot, as the little master is unavailable for this series due to a hamstring problem, and Dravid add solidity to the batting while the two youngsters Yuvraj Singh and Mohammed Kaif have given a new dimension to the lower middle order batting. The Indian tail, which used to crumble without a fight, has been wagging a little bit in the recent matches with Harbhajan Singh, Srinath and Anil Kumble coming up with useful scores.
 The bowling will be a cause for worry as Agarkar, who has the distinction of being the quickest to take 50 wickets in one-dayers, has not been giving his team breakthroughs as he used to in the past and Srinath has found it difficult to make vital in-roads in the rival batting order. However, if Bangar is included, then it will add more variety to their bowling. Both Kumble and Harbhajan Singh will have to bowl better than what they did at Jamshedpur to help the team level the series.
West Indies skipper Carl Hooper too will be concerned with his own batting form so far and would like to strike form here. West Indies have played only one match at this ground and had defeated India by ten runs in 1987. Hooper will also be looking for good contributions from left hander Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan, who won the man-of-the-match award at Jamshedpur, Marlon Samuels, Chris Gayle, Wavell Hinds and the out-of-form wicketkeeper- batsman Ridley Jacobs.
The strong point for the West Indies is their new ball bowlers especially with so much of grass on the pitch. Left-arm seamer Pedro Collins and Mervyn Dillon bowled pretty well in the first match but it was Vasbert Drakes, who bowled his slower ones intelligently, who was the most impressive of the lot and there is no reason why they cannot repeat their Jamshedpur performance here as well. With the pace bowlers doing pretty well in the first match, the West Indians may opt for an additional batsman, bringing in Ricardo Powell in place of leg-spinner Mahendra Nagamootoo, who proved too expensive in Jamshedpur.
The Indians have 50-50 per cent success rate on this ground winning four of the eight matches played here. The highest total by the home side has been 310 off 297 balls against South Africa in 1999 while the distinction of scoring the highest total by a visiting team goes to New Zealand who piled up 348 for eight against India in 1995-96. The lowest score by Indians on this wicket has been 193 all out off 274 balls against the West Indies in 1987-88 while the visiting team’s lowest total has been 154 all out off 273 balls by Zimbabwe against the Aussies in 1995-96. |
