Tuesday, Jan 20, 2004
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Cricket
By G. Viswanath
Sourav Ganguly at the net session. — Photo: V.V. Krishnan
BRISBANE, JAN. 19. Sourav Ganguly is quietly nursing an ambition to beat Australia in a tournament final. He has stoked the resolve of the players and he himself is fiercely determined to keep Ricky Ponting's men on the edge and take them by surprise. After having a hit at the nets at the Gabba on Monday evening, Ganguly said Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Ajit Agarkar will not take part in Tuesday's day-night match against Zimbabwe. He doesn't believe Zimbabwe will be a pushover and at this stage of the VB Series Ganguly is not willing to count it out of the reckoning for the finals, but the subsequent statement just about revealed his unmistakable yearning for getting the better of Australia every time the two teams meet in the tri-series. "I want to make sure that we field the best team in all matches against Australia. Sehwag has a sore shoulder and has taken injections. Sachin's is only an ankle injury. Ajit (Agarkar) has bowled a lot on this tour and he will be rested again. Parthiv (Patel) will open the innings with me tomorrow,'' said Ganguly. The captain was one of the eight players who attended the optional practice session. Sanjay Bangar, Parthiv Patel, Hemang Badani, Yuvraj Singh, Rohan Gavaskar, Murali Kartik and Amit Bhandari were the others. Coach John Wright and physical trainer Gregory King completed the Indian contingent. The Zimbabwe batsmen's performances have been dismal and they choked in three matches abdicating responsibilities to Streak and Taibu whose work after the top order caved in in two matches against Australia was reduced to a chore. The specialists have to pull up their socks against India on Tuesday in a match that is viewed as the last chance for Zimbabwe to be in the race. Streak has made several positive statements about his players to keep their morale high. Zimbabwe's Australian coach Geoff Marsh said his charges were talented, but had unfortunately run into the top two teams in limited over internationals and had played good cricket only in patches. He felt India, with a mass following for the game, has been able to unearth fresh talent on a regular basis. "India has done well on this tour because of the work ethics introduced by John Wright in the last three years. India has the advantage of having played intense and high class Test matches, except on the second morning of the Melbourne Test. I was particularly impressed with the new set of bowlers Balaji and Pathan in last night's match. Our batsmen have to bat differently, take a little bit of risk and rotate the strike by taking singles,'' said Marsh. The Zimbabwe skipper Streak said that Stuart Carlisle will be fit to play the match, but added that there will be a few changes, not necessarily in the composition of the team, but in the batting order. He has only 14 players to pick from. He also said that seamer Travis Friend will come in for Douglas Hondo. The teams (from): India: Sourav Ganguly (captain), Venkatsai Laxman, Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh, Hemang Badani, Anil Kumble, Irfan Pathan, Laxmipathy Balaji, Rohan Gavaskar, Ashish Nehra, Parthiv Patel, Amit Bhandari, Murali Kartik and Sanjay Bangar. Zimbabwe: Heath Streak (captain), Vusi Sibanda, Mark Vermeulen, Stuart Matsikenyeri, Dion Ebrahim, Stuart Carlisle, Tatenda Taibu, Andy Blignaut, Sean Ervine, Grant Flower, Travis Friend, Douglas Hondo, Blessing Mahwire and Ray Price. Umpires: Messrs. Rudi Koertzen and Steve Davis; Third umpire: Peter Parker, Match referee: Clive Lloyd. Hours of play (IST): 8.45 a.m. to 12.15 p.m. and 1 p.m. onwards.
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