India not taking any chances in vizag one-dayes against Pakistan

VISAKHAPATNAM, Apr 4 (UNI): Notwithstanding their convincing 87-run-win in the first one day match at Kochi, the Indian cricket team, were not taking Pakistan lightly knowing that the visitors could bounce back when the traditional rivals cross swords in the second game of the six-match Pepsi Cup one-day series at the ACA-VDCA stadium here tomorrow.

"The (Indian) team is fully aware that they could always bounce back hard after the loss of the first game and they would be keen to correct from what happened in Kochi," Indian vice-captain Rahul Dravid said this morning.

This is what happens mostly with the Pakistan team generally as the immensely talented side tend to lose its way by crashing to some surprise losses soon after posting thumping wins.

The result in Bangalore test and the Kochi one dayer is one such example.

Indians should be aware that they had lost to their arch rivals four times in a row before the Kochi match.

They lost their matches in Asia Cup in Sri Lanka, VRA cup in Holland, Champions trophy match in England and the Platinum Jubilee tie at Kolkata.

However, the Indian team, which excelled in all departments in the last match, looks more composed and ready for the challenge.

With Virender Sehwag in tremendous form and the Dravid himself in great touch, the home team has a definite edge over their rivals.

They bowled and batted very well and their catching also came out superb.

This would mean that any change in the team composition is most unlikely.

The only hiccup the home team is suffering from is the continued poor form of their skipper who has not made any worthwhile contribution with his bat for quite some time.

Everyone is hoping for Ganguly, who is just short of 64 runs to join the coveted 10,000 run makers club, to come good at this port city tomorrow.

However, India, which boasts one of the stronger batting line-ups in the world cricket, has the batting resources to carry along until the skipper comes well.

Apart from the century makers at Kochi, Sachin is hungry for runs while young turks Mohammed Kaif and Yuvraj Singh are always at hand when the team needs them.

The weather factor will be very important as the sultry coastal weather can affect both teams.

Players from both the teams suffered from dehydration, heat and humidity at Kochi and it would be no different in Visakhapatnam.

Though the temperature is bearable in the city, it would be much higher in and around the stadium which is 12 km away on the National Highway towards Bhubaneshwar.

According to the weatherman the maximum temperature would be around 37 degree celsius at the stadium.

This is enough to sap the players out of their spirits as the humidity would be hovering around 75 to 85 per cent.

Dravid feels that there is no need for a shakeup in the winning combination and there is no need either, unless the Vizag wicket offers a lot of turn, to field two spinners.

This is mainly because of the good back up spinners Skipper Ganguly can rely upon in Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag.

Sachin proved his utility to the team with a stunning five wicket haul in Kochi.

In all probability, the same eleven would be seen on the field as young fast bowler Irfan Pathan, who did not play in Kochi, was unlikely to come into the playing eleven.

The medium pacers Zaheer Khan, Lakshmipathi Balaji and Ashish Nehra bowled well, mainly in middle overs and with Harbhajan Singh's off-spin the bowling department looks quite competent.

But the most heartening factor was the fine catching by the Indians in the last game with Zaheer and Sehwag bringing off superb catches.

Pakistan, a young team still in the moulding phase needs to improve in all these three fields.

Their catching abilities is suspect and dropping of Sehwag, with the flamboyant batsman's innings still in infant stages on more than one occasion in this series, had been one of the factors for their undoing.

The superb batting performance in the tests, which helped them to equal the series, was blatantly missing at Kochi.

Vice-captain Younis Khan's absence, who is out of the team due to a viral fever he has been suffering from since the Hyderabad preparation match, has affected the team badly.

However, opener Salman Butt and Shoaib Malik, who is engaged to a Hyderabad girl, can be expected to come good tomorrow.

Nevertheless, the team would be mainly depending on seasoned campaigners in Inzamam himself and redoubtable Younis Youhana.

If Shahid Afridi could continue his fireworks for relatively longer period Pakistan can post a challenging score.

Inzamam is however handicapped due to the absence of seasoned medium pacer, Mohammed Sami, who bowled his heart out in the Bangalore test.

Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and Mohammed Hafeez are yet to make their mark in the series while Abdul Razzak has been sorted out well by the Indians.

Leg spinner Danish Kaneria has been the only troubling factor for the home team.

Though Sehwag had handled him rather ruthlessly, he has troubled the other batsmen.

The six-match series has just begun and there is still a long way to go for the Indians before claiming the Cup.

The hosts have the prerequisites to achieve it as evidenced by their showing in the series so far.

However, Pakistan, the most unpredictable side as it is known, are capable of making a turnaround and look quite determined to do it.