Paarl, Feb 12: India on Wednesday meet Holland, the weakest World Cup side they are playing since they met East Africa in the inaugural edition in 1975. The East Africans found slow medium Madan Lal, Abid Ali and Mohinder Amarnath too hot to handle and collapsed for 120. Gavaskar and Farokh Engineer hit up 123 for no wicket.
One can see very much the same thing happening when the Dutchmen take the field. Dutch player 6 feet 8 inches Van Troost said the pitch turned when they played a warm-up against Boland here. And Vinod Kambli, who played for Boland as a pro this season said when South Africa played Boland Nicky Boye was turning it big. This would be the best place to play both spinners. But skipper Saurav Ganguly couldn't anything about it until he saw the pitch.
He said "most teams have been having four bowlers. We will do the same. I will bowl myself a bit."
He admitted it would easy to let one's guard down against a weak side but we won't let that happen. Asked if the defeat by Kenya at Port Elizabeth in 2001 was at the back of the mind, he said "That was an accident."
Coach John Wright said the New Zealand show "seems a long time away. We have a new focus. The defeat in the second warm-up was a good wake-up call and the team would be careful."
What would be a perfect game? "A big score and good fielding."
That is a tall order for it is hot here. "Like Rajkot in summer," said Rahul Dravid who was asked whether he would cope if he had to keep wickets after batting. I have trained for it." Temperatures could go beyond 38 degrees, said Peter Ingversen, treasurer of the Boland Cricket Board.
They were putting last minute covers for spectators in the open stands to avoid
sunstroke.
The Indians are lucky the ground is an open one lined by trees an open ground compared to the big stadia at other centres.
Sachin Tendulkar coming in at No 3 will be the talked about point. But Sourav didn't rule out his opening if required.
Some months ago Raj Singh Dungarpur revealed that this was considered an inauspicious position and greats like Vijay Hazare and G R Viswanath refused to bat at that position. But Dilip Vengsarkar and Mohinder Amarnath made a meal of it.
This cup will have to prove that Sachin and the position are made for each other. Or else, things will be tough.
All eyes will be on Sachin to overtake Javed Miandad as the top run-getter in World Cups. He has 1059 runs and needs 25 to overhaul Javed's 1083. Any change of bats? "Like normal," he said.
Another Asian, Wasim Akram is already the top wicket-taker with 43 and will claim more. Sachin is already the top scorer in one series-523.
Runs from the master will set the tone for the others.
Batting should win India the World Cup but the bowling too needs to be sorted out early. The poor return of Allan Donald in the cup opener against South Africa has immediately raised the question here whether he is over-staying in the side.
Srinath has proved in New Zealand such a question is not asked about him. But on flat wickets here, he might struggle.
India needed pace at the end and Zaheer will need someone equally quicker at the death. South Africa didn't have Ntini and suffered against West Indies. Sri Lanka pushed four spinners at the death against New Zealand but India can hardly afford to do that, except against Zimbabwe or England, or the minnows Namibia or Holland.
The Dutchmen hope to get Edgar Schferli their left-arm quick bowler to hustle the Indians and use the spin in the pitch to keep it tight.
Bureau Report
