Under-fire captain Sourav Ganguly will be looking for inspiration from the past to lift his personal form as India go into the crucial fourth one-day cricket international against Pakistan in Ahmedabad on Tuesday seeking to regain the lost momentum.
The Indian skipper has been under tremendous pressure after repeated failures with the bat and the clamour for his removal has increased in the past few days. Ganguly would be keen to silence his detractors not only with a big score but by leading his team to an unassailable 3-1 lead.
| |||||||||||
With his team having relinquished the hold a bit over Pakistan at the Steel city, Ganguly would look behind to the century he scored at the Sardar Patel Stadium in Motera against Zimbabwe a few seasons ago for some much-needed impetus.
Ganguly, whose last one-day hundred came in March 2003 in the semi-finals of the World Cup against cricket minnows Kenya, could also take comfort from the fact that this venue has been among the better ones for India in one-dayers.
India, who lead Pakistan 2-1 going into the humdinger of a clash in front an expected jam-packed and vociferous lot of spectators, have won five out of seven ODIs they have played at the Motera ground.
On the other hand Pakistan, with their confidence, which had taken a beating after the losses in the first two ODIs restored following the Jamshedpur victory, would be playing for the first time at this venue in an ODI.
India would also be hoping that Sachin Tendulkar, who has struggled in the series so far and has gathered only 12 runs as compared to Ganguly's equally miserable tally of 13, rediscovers his golden touch at the top of the order.
Going by current form, Pakistan's biggest worry would be Virender Sehwag who has caned the rival bowling in the first two one-dayers, after his superb form in the Test series, before failing at Jamshedpur when India chased a huge target of 320.
Rahul Dravid is another crucial batsman Pakistan would be wary of as he provides stability to the middle order and can pace his innings as per the needs of the team.
A worrying factor for India has been the inability of Yuvraj Singh and Mohammed Kaif to play to their potential so far though wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, promoted to number three at Vishakhapatnam and Jamshedpur, has shown the ability to tear the rival attack to shreds on these benign wickets.
The Indian new ball attack is also a cause for some concern. The hosts fielded a three-pronged left-arm pace attack at Jamshedpur without much success. The part-time spin of Tendulkar, Sehwag and Yuvraj too failed to work.
The Indians would be tempted to bring in Balaji for the out-of-form Pathan in case the former has recovered from his side strain which forced him to miss the third ODI.
The toss is going to be of vital importance as the teams setting the target under these hot conditions and on placid wickets have a huge advantage as has been the case in the first three matches of the series.
Pakistan are happy to see the return to form of opener Salman Butt who has scored two centuries against India in the last four ODIs, including the one at the Eden Gardens during the BCCI Platinum Jubilee match.
The talented left hander is the one Pakistan would be banking on to give the early momentum to the innings with the unpredictable Shahid Afridi, who can win a match singlehanded on his day, for company.
The visitors possess fine batsmen in Inzamam, Yousuf Youhana and Younis Khan to take advantage of a sound platform laid by the openers.
The tourists are likely to go in with the same eleven that won them the match at Jamshedpur. All the bowlers delivered, none more so than Rana Naved-ul-Hasan who broke the back of the Indian batting with his six-wicket haul.
Pakistan, however, do not have fond memories of this erstwhile textile city. The last time the team from across India's western border played at this venue, in 1986-87, was a momentous one in more sense than one.
India's Sunil Gavaskar completed the cricket equivalent of Mount Everest by reaching 10,000 runs in Tests, the first in the world to do so.
But the Pakistan team, led by Imran Khan, staged a walk-out after his team members were pelted with missiles by the unruly and restive crowd.
They also came out to field with all the eleven players wearing helmets.
To prevent a repeat of such incidents the Gujarat Cricket Association and the state authorities have made tight security arrangements this time around.
More than 3,000 security personnel would be deployed in and around the stadium while the Gujarat police would also giving elaborate security cover to both the teams.
Moreover, the GCA has also erected a glass enclosure around the teams' dressing rooms so that they could watch the match without being besieged by fans and autograph seekers.
The Pakistan team has also been insured to the tune of Rs two crore by the GCA.
Teams (from):
India: Sourav Ganguly (captain), Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, M S Dhoni, Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammed Kaif, Harbhajan Singh, Ashish Nehra, Irfan Pathan, Zaheer Khan, L Balaji, M Karthik, D Mongia and A Agarkar.
Pakistan: Inzamam-ul Haq (captain), Younis Khan, Salman Butt, Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq, Shoaib Malik, Yousuf Youhana, Kamran Akmal, Danish Kaneria, Rana Naved-ul Hasan, Mohammad Sami, Arshad Khan, Rao Iftekhar Anjum, Shahid Nazir, Asim Kamal and Mohd Hafeez.
Umpires: Rudi Koertzen (South Africa) and K Hariharan (India).
Third umpire: I Shivram (India).
Match Referee: Chris Broad (England).
