India face uphill task in decider

Smarting under a humiliating defeat, India face a huge task of denying South Africa their first-ever one-day series victory in the country when the two teams clash under lights in the deciding fifth and final match in Mumbai on Monday.

The ten-wicket defeat at Kolkata's Eden Gardens in the fourth cricket one-dayer, where the home team was made to feel like aliens by the big crowd that jeered and booed Indian players and cheered the South Africans, handed over the momentum as well as an unassailable 2-1 lead to the tourists in the best-of-five contest.

It will now require a monumental effort from the host team to stop the South Africans from clinching their first one-day series in India in six attempts, including two multi-nation events.

India can, however, take heart ahead of the deciding clash because of some factors that go in their favour.

The biggest plus point the home team has is the pitch, which was yesterday described as sporting by curator Sudhir Naik. It is quite unlike the grassy, seam-friendly surface that was dished out much to the chagrin of the Indians in Kolkata two days ago.

The grass was shaved off from the Wankhede Stadium pitch with a mower last evening in instructions from Indian selection committee chairman Kiran More, who personally supervised the operation.

The Indian batsmen, who came a cropper against the seaming ball at Eden Gardens, should prosper in familiar conditions in Mumbai. Importantly, they would have the full-throated support of a full house.

Another facet that should give comfort to the home team is that South Africa have lost both their matches played against the hosts at this venue a decade ago. India have a 50 per cent win-loss record at this ground. (6 out of 12).

However, the dew factor could upset the best-laid plans of the teams if they are forced to bowl second with a wet ball on a wicket freshened by dew drops which would make the ball skid off the track and not allow it to grip and turn.

India, banking on their spinners, would be even more at a disadvantage if this happens although curator Sudhir Naik was not sure how much dew would fall, going by his experience over the past fortnight or so. He said only on three days in this period was there was heavy dewfall.

The Indian think tank, which surprisingly sent in Irfan Pathan to open the innings at Kolkata, is unlikely to continue with this sort of over-the-top experimentation, or strategy, as coach Greg Chappell likes to term these, in tomorrow's crucial encounter.

Most important, from India's point of view, is the form of big guns Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid who have done precious little with the bat of late and accumulated a miserly six and 24 runs respectively in the three completed matches of the series so far.

In fact, Tendulkar's form slump of seven matches without a fifty, including the previous series against Sri Lanka, has been his worst-ever sequence of poor scores since 2002 when he could not score a half-century in nine innings.

But local hero Tendulkar, who set a world record for the maximum number of ODI appearances in Kolkata, can also take heart from the fact that Wankhede is one of his favourite grounds, having done quite well here with an aggregate of 386 in eight outings with a century to boot.

What should be equally heartening for the Indians is the maturity shown by Yuvraj Singh to come to the side's rescue in times of adversity and especially in this series in conditions, which have not been very ideal for stroke-play.

The Punjab left-hander showed grit, determination and good shot selection in ample measure to turn the innings around after the top order had been unseated both in Hyderabad and Kolkata.

But adding to the Indians' cup of woes has been the inconsistency shown by their strike pace bowlers Pathan and Ajit Agarkar.

The South Africans are on a high after their brilliant display in the last encounter. Shaun Pollock showed once again what a master craftsman he is in conditions ideal for his type of bowling while the other bowlers supported him to the hilt.

But even more pleasing for the visitors must have been the superb batting of their captain Graeme Smith, who treated the Indian attack with disdain to race to an unbeaten century in the fourth tie and provide the platform for the thumping victory.

Teams (from):

India: Rahul Dravid (captain), Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, M S Dhoni (wk), Harbhajan Singh, Murali Kartik, Irfan Pathan, Ajit Agarkar, S Sreesanth, Gautam Gambhir, R P Singh, Mohd Kaif, J P Yadav.

South Africa: Graeme Smith (captain), AB de Villiers, Jacques Kallis, Ashwell Prince, Justin Kemp, Justin Ontong, Mark Boucher, Shaun Pollock, Albie Morkel, Andrew Hall, Robin Peterson, Johan Botha, Charl Langeveldt, Makhaya Ntini, Andre Nel.

Umpires: Daryl Harper and K Hariharan.

Third umpire: I Shivram

Fourth umpire: Ravi Subramaniam

Match referee: Jeff Crowe.