Indian batsmen must change their approach
Having lost to Sri Lanka by five wickets in the opening
encounter on Friday, India will be looking to get their act
together against Zimbabwe on Sunday in their next match of the
triangular one-day cricket series in Sharjah.
India, who feel they were done in by the heavy dew on the
outfield during the latter part of the game against Sri Lanka,
are banking as much on their strength as on the fatigue of
their opponensts.
Zimbabwe will be playing for the second consecutive day on Sunday and that suits Saurav Ganguly and his men just fine.
The Indian batsmen need to change their approach on this
wicket, where the ball does not quite come on to the bat and
going for the big hits can be risky.
Batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar showed the way with
his uncharacteristic hundred against Sri Lanka on Friday, when he hit just three fours and a six. This is exactly the
approach to take and the Indians, especially Ganguly, would do
well to rely on working the singles and twos rather than opt
for going over the top.
Ganguly will be hoping to win the toss again, but this
time for a different reason. For once, the Indians would like
to bat second.
As was evident in Friday's game against Sri Lanka, the
ball does not come on to the bat and the outfield is sluggish
in the afternoon. But once dew starts falling, the ball comes
nicely on to the bat and the outfield is also quicker.
Ganguly believes his bowlers could not do much
with so much dew falling. India also need to urgently do something about the
numerous run-outs. As many as four batsmen, including
Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, were run-out against Sri Lanka,
which cost them dearly.
Tendulkar and Dravid have now been run out in two
successive innings and Ganguly must check this malaise before
it spreads.
India's bowling appears thin and Ganguly is toying with
the idea of playing Sunil Joshi in place of Ajit Agarkar.
Joshi, a left-arm spinner from Karnataka, has better chances
of success against the Zimbabweans who play pace better than
spin.
Otherwise, India will be starting with the same line-up
as the one that played against Sri Lanka.
On the other hand, Heath Streak and his men realise a win
against India on Sunday would immensely increase their chances
of qualifying for the finals.
If India lose this game also, they will go into next week's final phase of league matches with no wins.
In contrast, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe would have at least a
couple of points against their names.
Zimbabwe will be strengthened by the return of Alistair
Campbell, who was served one-match suspension after the ICC
knock-out tournament in Nairobi for showing his dissent on
being adjudged leg before wicket against New Zealand.
"I wasn't out, that's one. Then if I was around, our team
could have gone on to beat New Zealand," said the elegant
middle order batsman.
Mail Cricket Editor
