Saurav Ganguly became the first batsman to hit three centuries in a single World Cup. This is an amazing feat and is reflective of the way the Indians have been playing. For Ganguly, this has been a rollercoaster World Cup. From first ball ducks to unbeaten centuries he has seen it all. Now it remains to be seen whether he can carry his century streak into the finals. That would indeed be a feather in the Indian skipper’s cap.
Ganguly has three centuries in this World Cup, and 21 in his career. Yet all experts hesitate to count him among the best in the business. Quality fast bowlers always fancy their chances against him and I admit that even I looked forward to peppering him with some short-pitched stuff in my time. Ganguly’s reputation as a player who is comfortable against medium pace and lethal against spin has always preceded him. It has been seen time and again that he completely loses his footwork when facing raw pace. He does not like it around the chest and whizzing past the nose, which is why someone like Brett Lee or Glenn McGrath will always gun for him. Right now Ganguly is in fine touch. He was hitting the ball with great sweetness, timing and power against Kenya in the semifinals. Will he be able to replicate it in the finals against the most high quality pace attack in the world? Only time will tell. If he succeeds, he may have silenced his critics for the time being. If he fails, his critics will be quick to point out that his record three centuries were against the friendly, innocuous attacks of Namibia and Kenya. This would be unfair on the Indian skipper because all the batsmen in the tournament had their chances against the minnows, but he went ahead and got big scores.
The finals will be a huge game for all the Indians, and they must hold their nerve. This will definitely be the biggest game in the careers of all the eleven players who will take the field today. The Australians have been there before, so I am sure it’s the Indians who will be more nervous.
The Indians will do well to ride on crowd support as at least 15,000 Indians will there at The Wanderers, not to mention South Africans who will back just about anybody against Australia.
Conditions at The Wanderers will definitely aid the Australians, but the wicket will be a lot flatter than it normally is. Sachin Tendulkar will be target No. 1 for the Australians and the little master will be tested from the word go. He has been in magical form and my only concern is that he should not over-attack in his quest to dominate a more conservative, conventional approach for at least five overs will be a better idea. I would also like to see Rahul Dravid bat at No. 3 if India take first strike. Ganguly is playing the old ball well and should be there to play the second line of bowlers.
Australia might break up the Lee-McGrath combination so that one of them is there to sustain pressure for more than the initial burst. Something tells me that the defending champions will open with Andy Bichel because they would like to surprise the Indians as well. They may do a couple of innovative things even with their batting lineup, I don’t know what, but do expect some changes.
The finals will be a grand spectacle and I’m happy that two teams who have played the most consistent cricket have gone all the way. Australia start favorites and look hard to beat. However, India were the side that stopped their record winning streak in Tests. Who knows, they might do the same in one-dayers as well.
Arab News Sports 23 March 2003
