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Wednesday, Oct 10, 2007
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Batting will hold the key for Indians

Andrew Symonds has been in awesome form in this series, writes W.V. Raman

— Photo: PTI

DANGERMAN: Andrew Symonds, who has been in fine nick, arrives in Vadodara on Tuesday.

Andrew Symonds is an imposing figure and he has been in awesome form in this series proving to be the difference between the two sides.

There is always an element of threat when he is out in the centre as his prowess for big hitting is well known. He continued his good form in Chandigarh by picking runs at will and Team India needed the wicket of Symonds desperately in order to sneak back into the game.

M.S. Dhoni turned to his trusted seamer R.P. Singh and the left-armer obliged his skipper by castling Symonds, the danger man and followed it up with a direct hit to dismiss Hogg.

Exemplary resilience

The double strike changed the equation apart from providing the fillip that the Indians were looking for. Thereafter Team India prevailed over Australia with a display of exemplary resilience on the field in a must-win situation by keeping the pressure up apart from holding their nerve.

The win was a product of several crucial elements strung together and the Indians would realise that they need to adhere to them in the forthcoming matches. The Indian openers did well to deny the Aussies early breaks which ensured that the Aussies did not get an upper hand to turn the heat on as they usually do.

Though Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar did not get off to a flier, their solid partnership allowed the Indians to launch an offensive towards the latter part of the innings. As a result the Indians ended up utilising the entire quota of 50 overs with just the top six batsmen consuming them.

Right decision

The inclusion of a fifth bowler made it imperative that the batsmen make the best possible use of the allotted overs. The decision of Dhoni to play five bowlers proved to be right and in doing so he has made his positive intent clear. The return of Pathan to the side is also providing the captain the option of playing five bowlers as Pathan is an all rounder of sorts.

The skipper is wearing the crown well and it is heartening to see that captaincy is not adversely affecting him on either side of the stumps. In fact, his keeping is getting better by the day and his quicksilver stumpings were a treat to watch. The victory would have impressed upon the Indians that a composed approach is a better option than demonstrative aggression as the latter can sometimes be counterproductive.

Tall-scoring game

With a victory behind them, the Indians will be looking to square the series in Vadodra which can once again be a tall- scoring game. The Indian skipper will be hoping that the toss goes in his favour as well given that the chasers have lost in this series so far. Batting will hold the key for the Indians as the pitches will have nothing much to offer to the bowlers.

Tendulkar and Ganguly will have to provide the foundation and set the ball rolling to put pressure on the Australians — whether chasing or setting a target.

The spinners, Murali Kartik and Harbhajan Singh have an important role to play as the middle overs are crucial. Moreover, the Australians have a few inexperienced batsmen down the order who can crumble under pressure. Kartik did well enough in his comeback game and if he gets into his rhythm quickly, he can be the type of bowler who any captain would love to have in the side.

The left-arm spinner is a confident young man and he has shown that he can be effective against the left-handers too. It will be interesting to see the strategy of the Aussies in the remaining games, as the Indians have played a refreshing brand of cricket against them under Dhoni.

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