Indians confident after early successes

Buoyed by the return of maestro Sachin Tendulkar and the impressive performance of its youngsters in the warm-up matches, a confident India will take on a strong South Africa side in the opening day-night one-day encounter of the triseries at the Wanderers, in Johannesburg, on Friday.

The Indians, seeking an elusive series victory abroad, are up against a team that is fresh from a 3-0 routing of Zimbabwe in an away one-day series and will need to fire on all cylinders to beat the hosts on their home ground.

Kenya, the third team in contention, are greenhorns in international cricket and should not pose much of a challenge to either the South Africans or Indians.

So, the real test for India is going to come from the formidable South Africans, second only to world-beaters Australia as far as form, fitness and records go.

Despite the absence of Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar, who sat out on account of injury, the Indian youngsters did well to win Wednesday's match against South Africa 'A'.

Ajit Agarkar, with 3 for 46 and a hectic 49 off just 43 deliveries, was man of the match, but no less important were contributions from Jacob Martin and Yuvraj Singh, who put themselves in focus at the first opportunity afforded on the tour.

The performance of the youngsters has allowed the tourists to look at the Tendulkar-Ganguly issue in a positive manner and they will now approach the tri-series opener not exactly quaking in their boots.

Coach John Wright confirmed that Tendulkar will be fit to return on Friday after the maestro took a couple of days off to try out his refitted and recushioned right shoe, in an effort to protect his not-yet-healed toe injury.

The good news on Ganguly though is still awaited as the Indian captain waits for his injured right index finger to heal in time for the opening triseries game.

Ganguly, who was hit by Mornantau Hayward in the tour opener against NFO XI, at Randjestfontein, which the Indians won on Monday, still finds the injured area on his right hand a bit soft and is keeping his fingers crossed.

But if Ganguly is ruled out, the team needs to look no further than Martin, who has enjoyed the most fortitutious 10 days of his career since being drafted into the team at the last minute, after V V S Laxman pulled out of the one-day series due to a still-healing knee and then making the most of yet another lucky break due to his captain's injury.

Martin, who has played eight one-day internationals for 122 runs, with 39 runs being his highest score, last played for the country against Pakistan in the Carlton and United series at the WACA, Perth, in Australia, almost two years ago, in early 2000.

Indeed, even if Ganguly is fit, Martin can still run better-placed Shiv Sunder Das close for a berth in the Indian middle-order. There is little to choose between the two on form, but Das, being an opener, would be expected to take up Tendulkar's partner's slot, if Ganguly fails to make it.

Yuvraj Singh, after his late heroics in a one-day series in Sri Lanka in August, reconfirmed his status as an emerging star, flaying the near-top class South Africa 'A' attack around the park.

The success of Ajit Agarkar, in a way, is a bad news for either Javagal Srinath or Venkatesh Prasad as India is expected to field only two medium-pacers to support the spinning duo of Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh.

If form and past record are any criteria, the accurate Prasad should get the nod ahead of his Karnataka teammate Srinath, who conceded 58 runs from his nine overs on Wednesday. However, given the pacy deck promised for the Friday's game, Srinath's speed would be difficult to ignore for the Indians.

The best news in a long time for India is, of course, the return of Anil Kumble who, with figures of 1 for 15 from 10 overs, showed he is close to his top form after sitting out for a year due to a shoulder injury.

The South Africans have taken note of India's strengths and national coach Graham Ford said he is under no illusions about how tough the coming series is going to be.

"I have great respect for the Indian players," said Ford. "An exciting challenge lies ahead of us. India has some of the finest cricketers in the world. It's not going to be easy."

South Africa started their season with an impressive 1-0 Test series win over Zimbabwe, and followed it up with a 3-0 victory in the one-day international series.

"We got through the Zimbabwe series well and it was positive that a few of the players got into top form," Ford said.

He added: "It's now a whole new situation. But that's sport nowadays; you clear one hurdle and the next one follows quickly.

"There is some steep challenge ahead of us."

South Africa have a wealth of allrounders in captain Shaun Pollock, Jacques Kallis, Lance Klusener and Justin Kemp and are also well served by openers Gary Kirsten and Herschelle Gibbs.

Otherwise, despite the presence of Jonty Rhodes and Neil Meckenzie in the middle order and Makhaya Nitini, as a fast bowler, they still appear a bit lightweight in both bowling and batting.

The teams:
South Africa: Gary Kirsten, Herschelle Gibbs, Neil McKenzie, Jonty Rhodes, Shaun Pollock, Lance Klusener, Mark Boucher, Makhaya Ntini, Andre Nel, Justin Kemp, Jacques Kallis.

India (from): Sourav Ganguly (capt), Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Jacob Martin, Shiv Sunder Das, Deep Dasgupta, Yuvraj Singh, Reetinder Singh Sodhi, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Ajit Agarkar, Javagal Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad.

Mail Cricket Editor