With the ban on Saurav Ganguly reduced by two games the Indian team will have his services for the latter part of the Tri Series. More than anything, that’s going to be a big test for Greg Chappell, for he would be the one who has to balance the power between Rahul Dravid who has been appointed skipper of a team where Ganguly is the additional 16th member and Ganguly who is no doubt expecting that after this series is over he will be given the reigns of the captaincy again.
It’s a tricky situation and it will take all of Chappell’s firmness to make sure that there’s no division that occurs in the team. Dravid will quite naturally feel that he is a stop gap captain now that the ban has been reduced and Ganguly is back in the team and how much that affects his leadership will be seen shortly but there’s no doubt that there’s now more pressure on him to deliver the goods than ever before.
Ganguly coming back in the team will solve the problem of who should open the batting with Virender Sehwag and even if Dhoni is successful in that slot in the first two games, where Ganguly will be a spectator, the Prince of Kolkatta should be back to the position where he has scored nearly 10000 runs for India. The situation will put pressure on VVS Laxman who has been brought back in the Indian team presumably because the selectors weren’t sure if Ganguly’s ban would be lifted and with Tendulkar also absent they wanted an experienced player in the top order.
Laxman has been out of the reckoning in the ODIs for almost a year now and there’s really nothing that has changed the reasons for which he was omitted in the first place but Indian cricket has been bit of a club for some time now where membership is far more restricted than some of the snootiest clubs in the country and newcomers not easily admitted and even when they are the chances that they get are not as often as the established members.
Have a look at the bowling attack and even on pitches that are conducive to spin; India has gone with four new ball bowlers plus one other medium pacer and with only two spinners in Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh. If that doesn’t convey something then nothing will.
Sri Lanka will no doubt begin as favorites. They have just demolished a second string West Indies team making them look like school boys and that too in a series where their batsmen didn’t score too many.
That will change as the limited overs series begins and Sri Lanka have the class to score at rapid speed and then have the experience to stop the opposition. They will be anxiously awaiting the recovery of Chaminda Vaas who may have slowed down a bit but has the variety to trouble the best with the new ball.
Muthiah Murlitharan has shown that he too has fully recovered from his shoulder injury that had him away from the game and allowed Shane Warne to go well past him in the matter of Test match wickets.
West Indies will have a better chance with their young side in the ODIs than they had in the Tests but the internal dissensions will not help and it will need all of Chanderpaul’s experience to see that his team gets a decent total on board.
Ricardo Powell is another player who can change the complexion of the game but he is a bit inconsistent and does not show the same energy that he did a few years back
Its just another ODI series but has assumed importance for Indian cricket because of so many questions that are looking for answers. How much impact will Greg Chappell have? How will Dravid cope with the captaincy.? How will the team react to two captains in the team? What are the areas that Indian cricket needs to develop?
In all this we must not forget that there are two youngsters in the team awaiting their opportunities and if they get that and grab the chances then Indian cricket will have a few more options for the future and that’s the exciting thing about this Tri series. Let it begin.
