The Hindu : Sport : After a washout, battlefield shifts to Keenan cauldron

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 12, 2006

Sport

Sport

After a washout, battlefield shifts to Keenan cauldron

Vijay Lokapally

Several regulars, including Flintoff, expected to take a day off

JUST DO IT: Selection committee chairman Kiran More (right) believes that sticking with an out-of-form Mohammad Kaif is a worthy enough gamble which will eventually pay off. — PHOTO: V. GANESAN

JAMSHEDPUR: The Keenan Stadium is a compact venue. It is small, scenic and the carpet of lush green should be a soothing sight in the torrid heat that the players shall confront on Wednesday. The organisers have done a wonderful job indeed. If only they could dictate the weather as well!

India and England will face the stiffest test in terms of endurance when they meet here for the sixth match of the TVS Cup ODI series. "Forty-five degree Celsius will become 54 inside the stadium," joked stand-in skipper Virender Sehwag on the harsh playing conditions.

To the credit of the English camp, the players have accepted the heat as part of the job. "We can't expect luxuries. We are professionals and we have to learn to deal with it," said Kevin Pietersen.

England may be tempted to rest Andrew Flintoff in this inconsequential encounter.

The news on Geraint Jones was not encouraging either. The wicketkeeper-batsman, suffering from a muscle pull, was still undergoing treatment.

For England, motivating the players will remain an arduous exercise. The youngsters have failed to capitalise on the opportunities and the seniors have not been able to fire on all cylinders.

Catching them young

India, which leads 4-0, has made the most of the ODI series by grooming young talent. The selectors have been following a policy that has the backing of the team management. The emphasis is on producing a winning combination.

"We are trying to form a pool of 20-25 players who can form the back-up for one another. There has to be a replacement ready for each player in order to create competition. We would be happy to have 20 players who can be ready to play international cricket at short notice," the National selection committee chairman, Kiran More, told The Hindu.

"We have been winning consistently and convincingly. It is a good sign that we have a strong pool to pick the team from. The youngsters have responded well," he said.

In More's opinion, young players such as Suresh Raina, Venugopala Rao, M.S. Dhoni, Sreesanth, R.P. Singh and Munaf Patel need to be encouraged more. "I don't think there is any insecurity factor in the team. The experienced players are always helping the juniors," he said.

Keeping faith in Kaif

More also defended the long rope being extended to Mohammad Kaif. "He is a quality player and needs to be backed. He has won us matches in the past. Sehwag is also struggling. But then they are players who will be very useful even if they click in only five out of 10 matches," he said.

"We are a very brilliant fielding side now. On the batting front, some of the players have had the starts but failed to capitalise on them. But a good sign is that we now have depth in batting. Look at how the tail has made up for the failures of the top order. They are able to finish the job. There is flexibility in the batting order. We can always alter it depending upon the situation," he added.

Ajit Agarkar, Irfan Pathan and Sreesanth are expected to make way for V.R.V. Singh, Munaf Patel and R.P. Singh. Venugopala Rao should bolster the middle order, while Robin Uthappa may continue to wait for his debut.

The curator, Probir Mukherjee, has assured that the pitch would be a cracker. Good for the spectators, who deserve a quality contest, given the conditions they will endure at the 18,000-capacity cauldron.

The teams (from):

India: Virender Sehwag (capt.), Robin Uthappa, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Suresh Raina, M.S. Dhoni, Irfan Pathan, Venugopala Rao, Ramesh Powar, Harbhajan Singh, Ajit Agarkar, S. Sreesanth, Munaf Patel, V.R.V. Singh and R.P. Singh.

England: Andrew Flintoff (capt.), Andrew Strauss, Matt Prior, Kevin Pietersen, Owais Shah, Liam Plunkett, Geraint Jones, Paul Collingwood, Ian Blackwell, James Anderson, Mathew Hoggard, Ian Bell, Vikram Solanki, Sajid Mahmood, Kabir Ali and Gareth Batty.

Umpires: Rudi Koertzen and K. Hariharan; Third umpire: A.V. Jayaprakash; Fourth umpire: Suhas Phadkar; Match referee: Roshan Mahanama.

Hours of play: 9 a.m. to 12:40 p.m.; 1:25 p.m. onwards.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail