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Time for India to set record straight

Injured Zaheer doubtful as rain-threat looms large
Last Updated 15 December 2010, 17:07 IST
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Number one against number two, the occupants of the throne against an opposition determined to make the most of home advantage even though they are aware that not even a clean sweep will catapult them to the top. That offers the fascinatingly wonderful backdrop against which India and South Africa resume a fierce but largely clean rivalry.

Despite not strutting their top-dog status, India have managed to stoke the fire in the Protean ranks. Graeme Smith’s men earnestly believe the Indians haven’t done enough outside the sub-continent to retain their number one ranking for as long as they have – twelve months, to be precise – and towards that end, they have left no stone unturned in their bid to derail the Indian juggernaut.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, indeed his entire contingent, has steadfastly refused to get into a staring bout, quietly maintaining that it isn’t their fault that in the last couple of years, they haven’t travelled to either Australia or England or South Africa. Now that they are here, and eyeing their first series triumph on Protean soil, it is inevitable that they will feel the not unwelcome pressure to perform, not so much to justify their perch at the top as for their own pride in their abilities.

India’s preparations have been spot-on even in the absence of a warm-up game, a few days well spent at the Claremont Academy run by coach Gary Kirsten in Cape Town providing them with the perfect taste of what is to follow over the next three weeks.
India arrived in South Africa, in batches, secure in the knowledge that they had the personnel to run the hosts close in unfamiliar conditions, but their plans received a rude jolt on Wednesday when pace ace Zaheer Khan was all but ruled out of the first Test.
In any series, the significance of drawing first blood can never be exaggerated. Especially in a cramped three-match showdown, it is extremely difficult to bounce back from an early setback, so India would have been desperate to put out their best eleven on the park for the first Test, beginning at SuperSport Park on Thursday. With Zaheer rendered hors de combat with a hamstring niggle, they have had to a massive rejig of their plans – one of pacers Jaidev Unadkat or Umesh Yadav will make his debut on the morrow.

Zaheer’s presence at the top of the bowling tree is nearly as crucial as Virender Sehwag’s is at the helm of the batting order. The ten-year veteran has had the wood over Smith in recent times, bowls splendidly to left-handers and is in such complete command of his craft that he has established himself as one of the best new-ball operators in world cricket.

India have shown in the past – as recently as at the P Sara Oval in August and in Nagpur last month against New Zealand – that they can still win matches without Zaheer. Saying that, losing him on match-eve in conditions expected to be genuinely pace-friendly will necessitate a huge step up from the likes of S Sreesanth and Ishant Sharma, not to mention Harbhajan Singh, the only man apart from Zaheer with more than 100 Test wickets in this Indian line-up.

It won’t merely be the bowlers that will need to up the ante. India’s batsmen, successful all over the world, haven’t found things to their liking in South Africa. All of them average substantially less here than through their careers, and can expect little let-up when Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Jacques Kallis and most likely Lonwabo Tsotsobe let it rip on a track that was covered for most of Wednesday, and therefore will assist seam movement to go with plenty of pace and bounce.

Incessant rains on match eve restricted India to just a session of yoga – mental conditioning being as vital as honing of skills – and there is a 95 percent chance of precipitation on Thursday as well as Sunday. It will be a shame if the match were to be wrecked by the elements, but then again, such is the nature of sport.

Teams (from): South Africa: Graeme Smith (capt), Alviro Petersen, Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers, Ashwell Prince, Mark Boucher, Paul Harris, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Ryan McLaren.

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt), Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Cheteshwar Pujara, Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, Jaidev Unadkat, S Sreesanth, Suresh Raina, Umesh Yadav, Murali Vijay, Wriddhiman Saha, Pragyan Ojha, Zaheer Khan.

Umpires: Ian Gould (England) and Steve Davis (Australia). Third umpire: Shaun George. Match referee: Andy Pycroft (Zimbabwe).

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(Published 15 December 2010, 15:03 IST)

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