The Hindu : Sport : Australia keen to retain the edge

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Australia keen to retain the edge

S. Dinakar

Sreesanth amd Sehwag likely to be in the playing eleven

Teams want to put SCG memories behind
Brett Lee may make a return

Sydney: Australia, with two games left, has qualified for the finals. The host, however, is unlikely to relax mentally. Champion sides retain intensity while entering the climactic phase.

India can afford a defeat at the SCG on Sunday and still qualify for the CB tri-series finals by overcoming Sri Lanka in Hobart. M.S. Dhoni’s men are unlikely to keep it to the last moment.

The SCG was the venue of a volatile Test match between the two sides earlier in the season. Both teams would like to leave behind the incidents as bad memories; the Indians will be intent on qualification and the Aussie batsmen, seeking to regain form.

Ponting’s form

The noises about lack of runs from Ricky Ponting have grown louder. The fluent stroke-maker with exceptional footwork and balance has been opened up time and again by deliveries straightening or leaving him. He has been stiff and tentative, each failure adding to the pressure.

Australia would be formidable once Ponting and Matthew Hayden get into their stride. The Aussies will use the remaining games for key batsmen to regain form.

This is precisely why Ponting could opt to bat if he wins the toss.

While it has been a case of loss of form with Ponting and Hayden, Andrew Symonds has some technical issues to resolve. His footwork is limited and he has attempted to play away from the body. The edges have flown thick and fast off his blade.

The Aussie bowling, however, has been outstanding. Spearhead Brett Lee is back in the line-up, but Mitchell Johnson will be rested. Lee will be bounding in after a break. Stuart Clark bowled a great line at the MCG and Nathan Bracken extracted bounce. And someone like James Hopes has made his deliveries count.

Hopes said on Saturday, “some of the pitches have been slow and scoring has been difficult. We have also been bowling under the lights and we know what we have to bowl to.”

The all-rounder said Australia would want to retain the mental edge. “We want to gain the psychological advantage before the final.

The Indians have bowlers in form and class players with the bat. We do not want them to go into the final with the confidence of beating us here.”

Exceeded expectations

The Indians have exceeded expectations as a bowling unit. Importantly, the pacemen have hit the right areas and moved the ball. Credit is due to bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad.

For Sunday’s match, Santhakumaran Sreesanth could be back sharing the new ball with Ishant Sharma.

There is a belief in the Indian camp that Sreesanth, with his pace and outswing, performs better against the Aussies.

The Men in Blue have major batting concerns although Yuvraj Singh’s return to form augurs well for the side.

The chances are that Virender Sehwag will return to the eleven instead of pace bowling all-rounder Praveen Kumar.

Dhoni hinted at this possibility — “To play five bowlers, all the top batsmen have to be in form.”

Sehwag can also contribute as the second off-spinner on an SCG pitch where there is bound to be some assistance for the spinners; Harbhajan Singh and Brad Hogg could be influential in the match.

More importantly, Sehwag needs to fire with the willow. The pacemen have been winning duels against the openers and even Sachin Tendulkar has not been an exception.

Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni agreed that the Indian batting lacked consistency. “We are doing well in bits and pieces.”

About his own solid batting in the series, he said, “It does not matter if you hit a four or not as long as you can maintain the strike-rate.”

Eventually, winning matters.

The teams (from): India: M.S. Dhoni (captain), S. Tendulkar, V. Sehwag, G. Gambhir, R. Sharma, Yuvraj Singh, R. Uthappa, I. Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, S. Sreesanth, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel, P. Kumar, S. Raina, D. Karthik, P. Chawla.

Australia: R. Ponting (captain), M. Hayden, A. Gilchrist, M. Clarke, A. Symonds, M. Hussey, J. Hopes, B. Hogg, B. Lee, N. Bracken, S. Clark, B. Haddin.

Umpires: Daryl Harper & Tony Hill; Match Referee: Jeff Crowe.

Match starts at 8.45 a.m. IST.

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