Sriram to open with Tendulkar

Sans a sulking Sourav Ganguly, India will bank on batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar and stand-in skipper Rahul Dravid to provide them a happy ending in the month-long series against Zimbabwe, in the final one-day international in Rajkot on Thursday.

Slapped with a one-match ban for showing dissent and intimidating the umpire, Ganguly will be reduced to a mere spectator, leaving Dravid to lead the side, which has already taken an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match series.

Tendulkar and southpaw S Sriram will open the Indian batting -- the only likely change in the top order from the side that beat the visitors in Kanpur.

"It will obviously be Sachin (Tendulkar) and Sriram who will open the Indian batting after the unfortunate incident at Kanpur that has put Ganguly out of action," Dravid told reporters after net practice.

"I don't have any pressure captaining the side as I know it is just a stop-gap adjustment for one match, and secondly, the series has already been decided in our favour," he said.

Dravid, who was being tipped to lead the side before Ganguly got the nod early this year, said it was an honour to lead India.

"I will go all out to win tomorrow's game as India's track record on this ground has not been very good. We would like to improve the record with better performance," he said.

India has just one win to their credit on this ground from five outings. The only win for the hosts came against Sri Lanka in 1994.

India lost the first international played on this ground, against Australia in 1986, then went down to the West Indies two years later. The hosts' other defeats at Rajkot came against South Africa (1996) and New Zealand (1999), when the Kiwis amassed their highest total in one-dayers, scoring 344.

In 1989, the West Indies and Sri Lanka clashed on this wicket and the Lankans achieved their first ever success against the mighty Windies.

Dravid expressed satisfaction over the wicket and said it would be a good batting track.

Though India has only 13 players to select from, Dravid refused to name the playing eleven.

"We will select the team tomorrow morning," Dravid said but did not hint on whether Yuvraj Singh, rested in the Kanpur match, would be recalled.

The Punjab left-hander has had a series of poor outings, but the selectors retained him when the team for the Kanpur and Rajkot matches was announced in Jodhpur.

Looking back, Dravid said he is happy with the way the series went against the Zimbabweans but added there is room for improvement in every department of the game.

"We need to improve our fielding and there should be more consistency in our batting and bowling to become a world class team in future," he said.

Coach John Wright too was quite impressed with the team's performance thus far and said he is looking forward to a 4-1 result in the series.

"I feel India's overall fielding performance in the series has been very good though there is room for further improvement.

"We have got some exciting new ball bowlers, like Zaheer Khan, who has shouldered the responsibility well with seniors like Javagal Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad," he said.

"I think even the spinners have done quite well despite mainstay Anil Kumble not being fit to play any of the games in this series.

"The batting has also been consistent with a couple of youngsters making their mark and all in all it has been a good series for the Indians," Wright added.

Dravid joined the coach in praising the youngsters. "They seem to be improving with every game," he remarked.

Zimbabwe captain Heath Streak was, however, optimistic of doing well considering India's poor track record on this ground.

"They have a very poor track record on this ground and this should be a psychological advantage to us," Streak said.

The Zimbabweans are likely to make one change from the squad that played at Kanpur, bringing in left-arm spinner Dirk Viljoen for out-of-form Henry Olonga.

Mail Cricket Editor