An exciting series in the offing

With the return of Kumble, Tendulkar and Srinath, there is no doubt in my mind that India will put up a good show in the one day series, even though on paper South Africa appears the favorite. All in all, it should be an exciting series.

Knowing very well that it is not going to be a cakewalk, India could still perform exceedingly well if it plays its cards intelligently. On the bouncy tracks of South Africa, I feel the best option would be to open with Tendulkar and Shiv Sundar Das, and let Rahul Dravid come next. Given Sourav Ganguly's predicament on facing the quickies on a track which will aid them, opening is a slot which he can do well without. Instead he can be better utilised in the middle order when the spinners operate.

The objective of the Indian pace bowlers should be to fire from all cylinders, and look for getting wickets, and not for containing the run flow. Srinath has always done well in South Africa and I see no reason why he should not repeat his performance.

A world about Das Gupta. A good opportunity awaits him and I only hope that he doesn't fritter away the chance. The selectors would also be well advised not to dump him, give him time to settle down even if he fails in a couple of matches. In fact he can be groomed to be a top class wicket-keeper batsman.

The South Africans are a dangerous side to face anywhere, and in their own backyard doubly so. In the absence of speedster Allan Donald, one man who could change the whole scenario-with the bat and with the ball-will be none other than Jacques Kallis, the one the Indian team would be wary of. If India could produce someone of the calibre of Kallis, at least 50 per cent of all our problems would be solved. Fielding is another area where the South Africans are way ahead of Indians.

But if you analyse the South African bowling closely, you will see that it is heavily dependent on Shaun Pollock, and this is where India can take full advantage. Taking all this into consideration, I strongly believe we have a fair chance of clinching the one-day series. www.krishsrikkanth.com

By K. SRIKKANTH

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Section  : Sport
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