The Hindu : Sport : For once, the formidable Australians have a point to prove

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Saturday, Oct 20, 2007
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Sport

For once, the formidable Australians have a point to prove

S. Dinakar

Teams will have to adapt quickly to the new format; onus on the Mumbai crowd to behave well

— Photo: AP

REVENGE TIME? Ricky Ponting and Mahendra Singh Dhoni hold the Future Cup Twenty20 trophy during its unveiling in Mumbai.

Mumbai: Australia meets the World champion at the Brabourne Stadium on a ‘Super Saturday’. Sounds strange, doesn’t it?

The World titles have been synonymous with Australia in the cricketing world, at least from the end of the 90s. The Aussies rule in Tests and the ODIs.

But there is the one that got away — the Twenty20 crown.

The memories of the semifinal defeat at the hands of India in Durban would rankle Australia. While revenge is not in the air, there is a huge difference between a one-off contest and a ICC World last four duel. Ricky Ponting’s men would like to prove a point.

“There was more hype about this Twenty20 match than the ODI series,” said Ponting. His team would like to finish the tour with a victory, he added.

New demands

The Aussie captain conceded that Twenty20 brought in new demands. “We do prepare differently for this form of the game. There is no time to settle down, and it is a lot more intense. It is difficult to plan since things change very quickly.”

The impressive Robin Uthappa also said that Twenty20 was a different form of the game. He also said that he had been able to adapt to different and positions in the batting order.

The Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has a strained knee ahead but is expected to recover in time.

His deputy Yuvraj Singh will be keen on another tilt at six-hitting glory.

Sehwag back

Virender Sehwag will be keen to get into the thick of things...the big blows.

The Aussies have the heavy hitters too. Ponting revealed imposing opener Mathew Hayden has a sore throat but expected his star batsman to play. Hayden can be destructive.

The Aussies have depth and bench strength even if Ponting said there were a few selection issues. The largely brown pitch could provide some encouragement to the bowlers. However, the effect of a pitch on a game is largely nullified in a highly shortened version of the game. This is extreme cricket, where the spectators should add colour.

The onus is on the Mumbai crowd to behave well. Ponting did say that Andrew Symonds was disappointed by the crowd behavior on this tour. Symonds might want to do the talking with the willow.

Twenty20’s very format encourages slogging. However, the most successful batsmen in the ICC Twenty20 were those who played positive but conventional strokes. Those who stroked the ball straight reaped the rewards.

Change of pace

Contrary to predictions, spinners were in the game. Again the format suggests that spinners can be biffed around the park. But then, the spinners with guile and change of pace have been influential in Twenty20.

Harbhajan Singh’s tremendous over at the death at Kingsmead would be fresh in the Aussie memory. His flight and drift and a fullish length settled the issue in India’s favour. The spinners have to deny the batsmen the room to get under the ball for the big hits.

Pacemen bowled a full length and swing the ball. Yorkers are the name of the game in this territory. The length balls could be dismissed ruthlessly.

Outswing is a casualty in Twenty20; even edges can fetch runs. The incoming ball is more of a threat. Fielding will be under much focus and India has a young team that fielded brilliantly in South Africa.

Among the bright fielders was Uthappa. He is young and he is positive. Uthappa said he saw nothing wrong with on-field aggression. Sparks could fly on Saturday.

The teams: India (from): M. S. Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa, Yusuf Pathan, Rohit Sharma, Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Joginder Sharma, S. Sreesanth, Rudra Pratap Singh, Dinesh Karthik, Ajit Agarkar.

Australia (from): R. Ponting (captain), A. Gilchrist, M. Hayden, M. Clarke, A. Symonds, B. Haddin, B. Hogg, B. Lee, N. Bracken, S. Clark, M. Johnson, B.Hodge, B. Hilfenhaus.

Umpires: Aleem Dar and Suresh Shastri. Third umpire: Pratap Kumar. Match referee: Chris Broad. Match starts at 7 p.m.