|
The Battle of the Blues - A Preview to the ODI
Series |
March 25, 2006 (From the
Cricket Journal)
In just three days from now, the battle will
resume again. This time in coloured clothing and
white balls. Yes folks, it will be one-day time
from the March 28 and going by the
high-intensity cricket played in the Test
matches between India and England, it will be a
keenly-contested contest, one hopes. It will
surely be a contest between a team brimming with
confidence (England) and a team that knows what
forgetting the bad games is all about (India).
With England's 'nothing-to-lose' mindset,
nothing is at stake for them but the ODIs for
India come at a heavier price - keeping their
unbeaten series run in the ODIs thus far since
October.
 India
will start as unquestioned favourites for this
series, but one might argue that they did so for
the Tests as well. It was upto England to raise
their intensity of cricket to match upto the
Indians and so they did to, what they might
equate to a series win, having been through all
the pre-series problems. This time around, it
will be a different level of challenge for a
team that is not known to trouble most teams in
the ODIs. To start off, their recent form
against Pakistan comes as a boost for the
Indians and having seen some of their players in
the recently concluded Tests, it will be bunch
of boys whose awareness about the opposition
might have just gone a little higher. India does
have its own share of problems with Sachin
Tendulkar nursing a shoulder injury. But having
said that, a problem brings itself an
opportunity. For someone like Venugopal Rao or
Gautam Gambhir, the call-up to the squad might
not have come at a better time. The onus will be
on them though, to grab this hint of opportunity
and translate it into their destiny, perhaps !
There is something about this Indian one-day
team. They seemed least perturbed, though highly
disappointed after the Test series loss to
Pakistan and their ability to claw out of
difficult situations should be commended. It
must be noted that India's rich vein of form in
the ODIs has surely help mask its undoings in
the Tests and if history repeats itself as it
did in Pakistan, India should surely come out on
top. One need not be an Einstein to figure out
if surprises will come England's way and knowing
Chappell and Dravid's determination to innovate
and 'experiment', several players would be put
to test. So, it would be fair to say that the
'Form is with India but the confidence with
England'.
On the other hand, England have surely taken a
leaf out of India's book in terms of a wink
towards the future, and the quite immediate one
- World Cup 2007. They have gone with a horses
for courses philosophy with guys like Vikram
Solanki, Owais Shah and Sajid Mahmood having
played here for England A in the Duleep Trophy a
season or two back. And more importantly, they
are the men in form. Gareth Batty, Vikram
Solanki and Sajid Mahmood have entered the squad
through sheer merit on account of their strong
match-winning performances in the recently
concluded England A tour of West Indies. It will
be interesting to see how they match-up to the
conditions and the weather especially in some of
the unusual centres in India, like Kochi which
will be nothing short of a scorcher. But, they
have a confident leader in Andrew Flintoff, who
has eased into the demands of captaincy quite
well. The Poms will surely be welcomed by flat
pitches and their ability to post big totals
will have to come to the fore if they intend to
succeed. These pitches can be unforgiving for
the bowlers and somehow I tend to feel, this is
where England would struggle. There may well be
a sameness about their attack and I find it
surprising as to why a bowler like Monty Panesar
has been sent home, after all the good work he
did in the Tests. If England do believe in
wearing the underdog tags, they might be able to
spring a bigger surprise on the punter's bets -
India.
Flexibility of thought and action would decide
the outcome on Indian pitches. After the near
whitewash of the Sri Lankans and the tough grind
against the Proteas', it would not be wrong to
brand the Indians as clear favourites by a long
mile. But, it will also be imperative for them
not to let complacency creep into their systems
as it did in Mumbai in the test match and go out
their and play the game with a sense of
meaningfulness, purpose and intensity. The last
time the English were here, India managed to
succumb to the pressure after leading the series
3-2 and the visitors drew the series at Mumbai.
This time around the teams are different, the
centres are different and of course the form !
One hopes to see a highly competitive series of
cricket and this would be only justified if the
better team wins. Both teams are young in terms
of age and spirit, but the team that holds its
nerve in the testing conditions coupled with
good catching and fielding will come out on top!
For now, let the battle begin !
Top of the Page |
