India go into the opening match against Pakistan in the cricket tri-series commencing in the Netherlands tomorrow saddled with sickness woes but determined to avenge their recent loss to their arch-rivals in the Asia Cup.
Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh and left-arm fast-medium bowler Ashish Nehra are down with viral fever and have been ruled out of the opening clash. At best the two will be available only from the next one-day game against world champions Australia, who complete the lineup in the series, on Monday, August 23.
This leaves India with just 13 fit men, and with rookie wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik and all-rounder Rohan Gavaskar being unlikely starters, the selection of the playing eleven is a foregone conclusion.
India have limited bowling options, but they include a good pace bowling combination in Irfan Pathan, Lakshmipathy Balaji and Ajit Agrakar besides the seasoned leg-spinner Anil Kumble.
The small VRA Ground, venue for the match, can only accommodate a deep mid-on and mid-off and not the usual long-on and long-off. Spinners, therefore, can expect a heavy pounding in the match which promises to be a batsman's show. The Indian batting lineup will thus have to provide cover for the bowling and must bloom to the full extent if they are to entertain any hopes in this tournament. They must revise their mindset as a score of 300 or even 350 does not quite look safe on this ground. If the batsmen can get going, even a total of 400 seems a possibility in these conditions.
In this battle of the batsmen, Pakistan does not suffer in comparison. They have the willowers who can explode to seize the initiative from the opposition. Young openers Imran Farhat and Yasir Hameed are aggressive and like to get on with the job. Captain Inzamam-ul-Haq and his deputy Yousuf Youhana are old pros. And the likes of Moin Khan and Abdur Razzaq are extremely dangerous customers in one-day cricket.
Adding an element of dash in all this is the reinduction of the flamboyant Shahid Afridi, who still holds the record for the fastest century in one-day cricket, not to forget the stylish Shoaib Malik, whose last innings against India was worth 143 runs in the Asia Cup in Colombo last month.
Pakistan's bowling is in better hands than India's and the likes of Malik, Mohammad Sami and Shabbir Ahmed could be potentially lethal in heavy weather. The organisers and cricket fans can at best expect a cloudy day as thundershowers are predicted over the weekend.
Orchestrating the match from the sidelines will be two well-known international coaches, Englishman Bob Woolmer, former coach of South Africa, and New Zealander John Wright. It would be interesting to see the strategies the two work out, given the size of the ground and the prevalent conditions.
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India (from): Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Sourav Ganguly (c), V V S Laxman, Rahul Dravid (v-c, wk), Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Lakshmipathy Balaji, Irfan Pathan, Ajit Agarkar, Rohan Gavaskar, Anil Kumble, Dinesh Karthik (wk)
Pakistan (from): Inzamam-ul-Haq (c), Yasir Hameed, Imran Farhat, Salman Butt, Yousaf Youhana (v-c), Shoaib Malik, Younis Khan, Moin Khan (wk), Shoaib Akhtar, Abdur Razzaq, Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Sami, Shabbir Ahmed.
Umpires: David Shepherd (Eng) and Steve Bucknor (WInd). Third umpire: Jeremy Lloyds (Eng)
