da bet vitoria： A win in the opener against Scotland on Thursday will ensure India make it to the Super Eights
da pinup bet： The Preview by S Rajesh in Durban12-Sep-2007
India will want Virender Sehwag to fire © Getty Images
Barely four days back, the Indian team was in another continent, playinganother series, in another format of the game. Their hectic schedule andlack of preparation, coupled with their lack of experience in the Twenty20format, means not many are giving them much chance of making it into thelast four. That could work to their advantage, though, and a win in theopener against Scotland on Thursday will ensure they make it to the SuperEights. It was a hurdle they couldn’t surmount in the Caribbean earlierthis year, but it’s highly unlikely that Scotland can do aBangladesh on India.Bat play: Mahendra Singh Dhoni didn’t reveal much about teamcomposition in the pre-match talk, which means guessing the XI is a bit ofa hazard. The batting line-up will surely consist of Virender Sehwag,who’ll have plenty to prove after his recent absence, Robin Uthappa,Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Dinesh Karthik might get a look-inahead of Gautam Gambhir, while Irfan Pathan and Joginder Sharma couldbolster the lower order.Scotland’s top order, bar Fraser Watts, the opener, misfired badly, butthey have another opportunity to make amends.Wrecking ball: India do have plenty of bowling options, but in theabsence of Zaheer Khan, the challenge is for one of them to rise andtake up the mantle of being the leader of the pack. Ajit Agarkar has beentoo inconsistent to inspire any confidence, while Sreesanth has beenblow-hot, blow-cold throughout his short career. That leaves themuch-improved RP Singh as the potential leader, while Irfan Pathan willwant to make a strong statement on his return as well. It remains to beseen how much of an influence the spinners will have.Scotland’s new-ball bowlers were very impressive against Pakistan, andaided by their top-class fielders in conditions that could help thebowlers, they could ask a few searching questions of the Indian batsmen.Keep your eyes on: Virender Sehwag. The exclusion from the teamwould have hit him hard, and he’ll want to take every opportunity to provehe is still one of the most destructive batsmen in world cricket.Shop talk: To bat first or to chase is the perennial question forthe captain winning the toss, but Dhoni had little doubt about what hewould do if the coin fell his way. “A lot depends on the conditions but wewould probably love to bat first. It’s always better to bat first, andsince batting is also our strength, we would like to give the opponents abig total. Also there is a lot more pressure when chasing big totals.”His other mantra is to keep it conventional and simple. “If you’ve seenlast evening’s game between South Africa and the West Indies, they playedproper cricketing shots. I think it’s important to play it as a normalcricket match. The stress would be on playing conventional cricket and notdoing anything extraordinary.”Pitching it right: The weather should be fine, but strong windscould help the bowlers move it around a bit, though control could be anissue here. The track has shown a tendency to hold up occasionally, makingstrokeplay a trifle difficult.Teams
India (from): Virender Sehwag, Robin Uthappa, Gautam Gambhir,Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Karthik, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt &wk), Joginder Sharma, Irfan Pathan, Yusuf Pathan, Ajit Agarkar, PiyushChawla, Harbhajan Singh, RP Singh, Sreesanth.Scotland (from): Ryan Watson (capt), Fraser Watts, Dougie Brown,John Blain, Gavin Hamilton, Navdeep Poonia, Gregor Maiden, Neil McCallum,Qasim Sheikh, Colin Smith (wk), Craig Wright, Dewald Nel, Gordon Drummond,Ross Lyons, Majid Haq.
