JOHANNESBURG, 10 March 2003 — India go into their Super Sixes clash against Sri Lanka at The Wanderers here today determined to bridge the cracks that still dog their World Cup campaign.
One more win from the two remaining matches will guarantee the Indians their first World Cup semifinal away from the subcontinent since Kapil Dev’s team took the title in 1983.
But neither Sri Lanka nor New Zealand, whom India play at Centurion next Friday, can be considered easy and skipper Saurav Ganguly has urged his teammates to raise their intensity levels.
“It’s going to be the real thing from now,” he said.
“We may have won six of our seven matches so far, but all that will go to waste if we fail to qualify for the semifinals. “
India reached the semifinals in the 1987 and 1996 tournaments played at home, but finished short in 1992 in Australia and in England four years ago.
Brilliant wins over arch rivals Pakistan and England in the preliminary league have not overshadowed the fact that at least three batsmen are short of runs and the fielding needs a marked improvement.
Explosive opener Virender Sehwag is yet to fire, having contributed just 117 runs in seven innings with a best of 36 against Zimbabwe.
Mohammad Kaif hit a valuable 35 against Pakistan but aggregates only 45 runs in six other innings, while Dinesh Mongia’s best was 42 against the Netherlands.
If the lack of runs from these three was not enough, the Indians received a rude shock when they dropped four catches during a tense six-wicket win over Kenya at Newlands on Friday.
“We’ve got to be on our toes all the time, “ Ganguly said, but believed it would not be long before Sehwag, Kaif and Mongia got among the runs.
“Sehwag is a class act and I have a lot of faith in him, “ the Indian captain said. “He is just one innings away from a real big one.
“Kaif is getting his confidence back. He is a tremendous fighter and a match-winner for us. He played well against Pakistan and he looks unruffled at number four.
“As for Mongia, he is working hard at the nets. He will come good. “
Ganguly said the poor fielding against Kenya was an exception.
“We have fielded well throughout the tournament. I would like to think it was just an off-day.”
Today’s match promises an exciting contest between the highest run-getter in the tournament, Sachin Tendulkar, and the leading wicket-taker Chaminda Vaas.
In the last 10 meetings between the two sides, India have won five, Sri Lanka three while two matches of the Champions Trophy final in Colombo were washed out.
Their last World Cup clash four years ago was one-sided as India pulverized Sri Lanka by 157 runs at Taunton following big centuries from Rahul Dravid and Ganguly.
The duo, along with in-form Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh, will once again hold fort as India look for a big score on what is expected to be a superb batting wicket at the Wanderers. Tendulkar is the tournament’s leading scorer with 474 runs while Ganguly is the only batsman to hit two centuries. Vaas has 16 wickets so far.
Jayasuriya 80 Percent
Certain to Play
Sri Lanka captain Sanath Jayasuriya has given himself an 80 percent chance of playing in the World Cup Super Six game against India today.
Jayasuriya, who suffered a bruised left forearm and a chipped bone in his left thumb when he was struck by Australia’s Brett Lee on Friday, told reporters after a limited net session on Sunday: “It did not feel bad.
“The main problem is the thumb, I’m still feeling it a little bit.
“With my forearm, the pain is there but I can manage it. I have a 75-to-80 percent chance of playing.”
Jayasuriya was speaking with his thumb in a cup of iced water. He limited himself in the nets to batting against deliveries thrown at him from a short distance by team physiotherapist Alex Kountouri.
Sri Lanka have one other injury doubt. Batsman Hashan Tillakaratne has a slight left hamstring strain but is expected to play.
The Sri Lankans were beaten by 96 runs by Australian in their opening Super Six match and will have to win at least one of their next two matches if they are to make it to the semifinals.
However, Jayasuriya said the squad’s morale had not been severely dented by the heavy defeat.
“The Indians also didn’t play that well against Australia but they came back and played well. We lost to Kenya and we also came back and played well,” he said.
“When you play a lot of games there’s always one that doesn’t go according to plan. Australia got over 300 runs on the board and you’re always under pressure when you’re chasing such a big target.”
Now Sri Lanka face India and probably the form batsman of the tournament in Sachin Tendulkar. Jayasuriya said Sri Lanka have no particular strategy to deal with Tendulkar, other than to bowl as tight a line as possible.
“India are doing well. They have a good batting line-up and Sachin is in good form,” he said. “Yuvraj (Singh) too is doing well for the team. We don’t have a special plan for Sachin. He is a good player and we’ll have to keep it tight to him as much as possible.”
