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Cricket
By S. Sabanayakan
Harbahajan Singh seems to be giving some tips to Muruli Kartik on the eve of the TVS Cup tri-series match against New Zealand at the Barabati Stadium, Cuttack on Wednesday.
The third team, Australia, having made sure of its final berth, the onus is on the other two sides to identify the second finalist. In the race for the title round, the host seems to have an edge having garnered eight points as against New Zealand's three. A victory for Rahul Dravid-led India will not only smoothen its further progress in this 10-game series, but will effectively keep out the Kiwis. New Zealand will have to win at least two of the three matches to remain in contention in this tournament. After having displayed its ability to fight back when pushed hard by Australia at Pune, where the game could have gone either way, the Kiwis will be a different team facing India here. Do-or-die could be New Zealand's slogan for Thursday. "The tournament has reached a critical stage,'' admitted Dravid. "It is an important game for both sides,'' he said after the team wound up its practice. The mood of the Indian team is upbeat. Rigorous training, playing volleyball, then to stretching and to nets, this Indian team meant business all along going into a crucial game. "We will announce the playing XI tomorrow,'' said Dravid. Leg-spinner Sairaj Bahutule, who replaced Anil Kumble in the squad, arrived here only this afternoon along with the New Zealand squad. "All are available for selection,'' said Dravid. Both Bahutule and medium-pacer Ashish Nehra, who has impressed the coach and the captain with his workouts and bowling, could get a look in. At the same time, Dravid said, the team did not need too many changes at this juncture. The Indian skipper did not rule out the chances of left-arm spinner Murali Kartik. The captain, of course, did not look much worried about the lack of form of opener Virender Sehwag. "He is too good a batsman to fail for long,'' he said. What India needs is a solid start to the innings. The time has come for Sehwag to deliver. The Barabati pitch is termed as `good' by Dravid. The Indian skipper thinks the bounce will be low as the game progresses. The Black Caps' strength has been fielding, if one does not read too much into the lapses in the last over of the Pune game. With a reasonable bowling attack, the Kiwis need to tighten up the batting, especially the top order. The first meeting between the two sides was washed out at Chennai. A good opening stand followed by sizable contributions from the middle order could be the formula the New Zealanders are searching for. The team's batting has to come good whether batting first or second. Captain Stephen Fleming seems to have regained his touch and in the lower middle-order Jacob Oram and Brendon McCullum have done a good job. If Lou Vincent, Chris Nevin, Scott Styris and other batsmen get into the scoring rhythm, then the Kiwis could run India very close, indeed. Cairns, Hitchcock fail fitness test New Zealand's all-rounder Chris Cairns and Paul Hitchcock failed fitness test and are ruled out of the match. Cairns, who played against Australia at Pune, was not considered because of an aggravated hamstring injury while Hitchcock could not recover from the side strain. The Kiwis will name the playing XI on Thursday. The teams (from): India: Rahul Dravid (Capt.), Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, V.V.S. Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Mohd. Kaif, Parthiv Patel, Zaheer Khan, Ajit Agarkar, Harbhajan Singh, Sairaj Bahutule, Ashish Nehra, Hemang Badani and Murali Kartik. New Zealand: Stephen Fleming (Capt.), Lou Vincent, Scott Styris, Craig McMillan, Chris Harris, Jacob Oram, Brendon McCullum, Daniel Vettori, Daryl Tuffey, Ian Butler, Chris Nevin and Kyle Mills. Umpires: Neil Mallender (Eng) and A.V. Jayaprakash. Third: I. Sivaram. Fourth: S.C. Gupta. Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle. Hours of play: 2-30 p.m. to 6 p.m. and 6-45 p.m. onwards.
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