India has made the most of the conditions

By G. Viswanath

VISAKHAPATNAM, APRIL 1. It's a good position to be in, 2-1 up, after the half-way stage of the five match series for the Pepsi Cup. Being the home team, India has made the most of it; the conditions - pitch and climate - have been favourable to it and the team has taken full advantage of the support of the home crowd at all the venues.

It goes without saying that the Test series win, after a disastrous start in Mumbai, has not only proved to be a big boost for the team, but it has also provided a fillip to Indian cricket as a whole. It was important not to lose focus after Chennai and the Indians have done well on that count, batting well in Bangalore and Indore.

There are two more matches remaining in this series. The fourth will be played in this port city on Tuesday and the fifth and final one in Goa, the land of a long coastline and football-crazy people. The immediate aim will be clinch the series here itself which will enable the Indian team to keep the 13-year undefeated record (in a bilateral series) going till the next series at home against England. Last year, Hansie Cronje's South Africa beat India 2-0 in the Test series, but India won the One-day international series 3-2. And in December 2000, India beat Zimbabwe 4-1.

So, there is much at stake for India in order to keep its slate clean for another nine months because England is scheduled to play a five-match series only in January-February 2002. India's win in Bangalore and Indore followed similar pattern. In the day/night match in Bangalore, India set a target of 316 and in Indore, 300. The Australians found it a tall order, losing the first one by 60 runs and the third by a whopping 118 runs. They pulled one back because of the individual brilliance of Mark Waugh, who batted admirably in Pune to score an undefeated 133.

There has been a debate on Australia's `rotation policy'. Its captain, Steve Waugh, has defended his team's policy of dropping the big and performing players. Australians generally do not react to such happenings, but in India a similar happening would have been regarded as an outrage and injustice to a player. In his column in a Mumbai broadsheet Steve Waugh has said he would adhere to the `rotation' system in the last two matches as well.

But the Indians ought not to ponder on Australia's selection matters. This was one of the points, coach John Wright, stressed before the start of the series. Sourav Ganguly has repeated this point of view quite a few times. Concentrating on their game and working out new strategies has worked well for the Indians.

Time Ganguly came good

What the home team must be looking forward to is a return to form of its captain, Ganguly. Wright has been good to him. He told reporters in Pune that Ganguly is a world class batsman. But what must have miffed most is the manner in which he got out in Indore. He showed haste in Pune before being bowled of the under- edge and chucked his wicket away in Indore. Ganguly is capable of throwing up a score line better than 6, 4 and 0. He has two more chances in the series.

The Indians showed improvement in the running between the wickets, yet they could not avoid a situation wherein Venkatsai Laxman had to fall a run out victim, when he was poised to get his first One-day century. Laxman has made 45, 51 and 83 in the first three matches. Impressive figures from a batsman in form, but who made only 86 runs in his previous 13 One-dayers for an average of 7.81. His scores were 0, 23, 23, 1, 4, 11, 9, 2, 2, 7, 1, 3. He did not bat once.

The Indian bowlers' performance has been good and bad. They have not been able to be bowl to a disciplined line and on flat wickets have gone for runs. In the circumstances, it was a good comeback by Javagal Srinath and Ajit Agarkar in Indore.

Following the win on Saturday, the selectors made one change, picking off-spinner Sarandeep Singh for left-arm spinner Sunil Joshi. They have also shown faith in Harbhajan Singh, despite contrary views by former cricketers, including Bishen Singh Bedi. Harbhajan went wicketless in the first two matches, but picked three wickets in the third. This should give him confidence.

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