Search: Look for:   Last 1 Month   Last 6 Months   All time

Men in blue must get their act together to continue the euphoria

New Delhi, Thu, 04 Oct 2007 NI Wire

Newstrack India

Oct 04: India takes on Aussies in third ODI in Hyderabad

The Men in blue must have to bring all their resources together ahead of the crucial third ODI, to carry on the exhilaration across the country after being crowned T20 champs, to be played at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Friday.

Trailing 0-1 in the seven match series of the Future Cup, Indian team must pull up their socks and push hard, as it will be difficult and requires a great amount of efforts from them to stage a comeback, to pull out a series victory out of the clutches of mighty Aussies. The Australians are striving hard to take the revenge of their T20 semis loss and will leave no stone unturned in clinching the series.

For India the match will have immense value particularly in the context of the series. If India wins, they will be even with Australia and if they lose then they will have to win four games in a row to clinch the series.

Both teams arrived in Hyderabad on Wednesday afternoon and most of the players opted out from practice. Ricky Ponting, who is nursing a hamstring injury since the Twenty20 World cup, had a light practice at the ground. Ponting is likely to take the field on Friday with a lot of hunger after missing out first two ODIs.

Sourav Ganguly's fitness would also be assessed after a practice session on Thursday morning. He could not play the second ODI because of a strained hamstring and if he plays tomorrow’s match then either Gautam Gambhir or Robin Uthappa will make way for him.

Australia batted first on both the previous occasions and pile up 300 plus, after overcoming top-order hiccups. Stand- in captain Adam Gilchrist is due for big runs, which he is famous for. Australians took the advantage of India's bowling particularly in the middle of the innings.

Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has had used, as many as seven bowlers in both the games, and yet his men haven't been able to capitalise on the start given by the frontline bowlers.

The history of the ground is not favouring the men in blue either, as India had lost the only ODI played here by five wickets to South Africa in November 2005. Yet the 40,000 capacity crowd of the Hyderabad will cheer Team India to get past Aussie wall.

Zaheer Khan and S Sreesanth have been putting all their money bowling with the new ball. Though Sreesanth has managed to bag a handful of wickets, still the 24-year-old bowler's unhinged behaviour on the field is not doing any world of good for the team. Sreesanth’s on field aggression did nothing good for his team and for himself thus far, as it has only accounted wayward line and extra runs.

Lalchand Rajput, India's cricket manager said on Wednesday that he had a word with him. "We told him he has to calm down," Rajput said, "We told him that it was alright to be aggressive but he cannot overdo it. He is all right now. He understands what he should do."

However, Dhoni's biggest problem is his two off-spinners Harbhajan Singh and Ramesh Powar, who have had the greater burden of tackling the middle-overs but somehow could not be able to handle the situation, as they are going for hefty runs during that crucial period.

However, Friday’s match is also significant for Indian troika Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid as all three of them are under scanner, after the T20 win which was pulled off minus of them.

Everyone across the country from layman to experts are vouching for young blood, as selectors have already signaled that there might be a possible change in the team after the third ODI and the axe is very much likely to fall on these three Indian trinity.

Rohit Sharma, Robin Uthappa is waiting in the wings while promising S Badrinath stake his claim strongly for the national team, after delivering stupendously against touring South Africa ‘A’ team recently.


Read More: South Goa

LATEST IMAGES
Manohar Lal being presented with a memento
Manoj Tiwari BJP Relief meets the family members of late Ankit Sharma
Haryana CM Manohar Lal congratulate former Deputy PM Lal Krishna Advani on his 92nd birthday
King of Bhutan, the Bhutan Queen and Crown Prince meeting the PM Modi
PM Narendra Modi welcomes the King of Bhutan
Post comments:
Your Name (*) :
Your Email :
Your Phone :
Your Comment (*):
  Reload Image
 
 

Comments:


 

OTHER TOP STORIES


Excellent Hair Fall Treatment
Careers | Privacy Policy | Feedback | About Us | Contact Us | | Latest News
Copyright © 2015 NEWS TRACK India All rights reserved.