Sport - Cricket

We’ll depend on balance in the team

Though it’s somewhat ironical that I will make my Eden Gardens debut after having retired from Test and ODIs, I have to thank the Indian Premier League for giving an opportunity to play at one of the world’s greatest cricketing venues.

The only time I was inside the stadium was during the opening ceremony of the 1996 World Cup, and I spent exactly a day-and-a-half in Kolkata (Calcutta then) on that occasion.

Having played at venues such as the MCG and Lord’s, I am no stranger to cricket history, which makes it all the more satisfying to finally get a game at the Eden Gardens.

The thought of facing up to Shoaib Akhtar, as 80,000-odd spectators get behind him, is immensely exciting. This is one contest I am looking forward to because it’s a supreme challenge to face a fast, aggressive bowler like him and not just defend one’s wicket but actually score runs.

Plenty of players have described their disbelief at the levels of noise and excitement that the Eden crowd can generate, and I anticipate a great experience.

Understandably, the morale among Kolkata Knight Riders’ supporters must be a little low after Friday’s heavy loss but watching that game drove home a fact that I have been a big believer in for quite a while: if you win the toss, you need not always bat. In Twenty20, batting second gives you a sense of certainty about the way you need to pace your chase.

A big reason why teams choose to bat first in a Test or a one-day game is the desire to exploit the conditions. With matches beginning at eight o’clock, that consideration is obviously no longer valid.

When you bat first on a good track, you are obviously constantly worried about the fact that you aren’t scoring enough. And if it’s a difficult track, as Mumbai’s was on Friday evening, you push yourself too hard. Yes, it is possible to put teams under pressure if they have to score at nine an over from the start, but as we showed against Delhi, chasing down a big enough total is easier than setting one, particularly in tough conditions like the ones we faced in Mumbai, where we thought 160 was a decent total until Sanath Jayasuriya took the game on to another level altogether.

So we are taking nothing for granted against the Knight Riders, just because they had one bad outing.

The Eden Gardens track has not exactly been a batsman’s paradise and so it is difficult to decide what a big enough total will be.

We will depend on the balance in our team to see us through.

(Gameplan)

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