Indian Captain MS Dhoni warms up during a net session.
No Eden Gardens, scarce tickets, Virender Sehwag injured, Yuvraj Singh injured, Tendulkar's injury a major concern, continuous rain in Bangalore.
Yes, all the above, unfortunately have been a big threat to the India-England encounter at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore on Sunday. It is a big match for both teams, more so for the nation - and negative series of events like the ones mentioned above just does not make it any better.
Unprepared Eden Gardens, Kolkata.
Firstly, the Eden fiasco had its own share of controversies. People now feel that its the 'Kolkata' curse that is hunting Bangalore. Eden is considered to be one the best grounds in Asia and definitely, back in the 1990's, had the reputation of being one of the best in the world. But the ground authorities failed to complete renovation on the said date and consequently the match, which was initially supposed to take place in Kolkata is now scheduled to be played in Bangalore.
Adding insult to injury is the rain, which is continuously pouring in the city from Thursday afternoon. 21 mm rain on Friday flooded the Chinnaswamy Stadium but the Karnataka State
Cricket Association officials said 'there is nothing to worry'. Predictions by the met department that there would be a 'thunderstorm with rain' makes matters worse for all of us.
(L-R) Pathan, Chawla and Harbhajan practice in Bangalore.
Now coming to the real scenario of the game, it's long been said that injuries are good friends of Team India. Opening Batsman Virender Sehwag was not even completely fit before a ball hit him on his ribs during a net session. Explosive middle-order batsman Yuvraj Singh also injured himself, though both these injuries are considered to be minor ones. Good news for Team India (but not for me) seems to be the come back of pace bowler Asish Nehra, who is all set to take a place in the bowling department. It is most likely that Sreesanth will have to sit out. What would be interesting to see will be whether captain MS Dhoni would still go with only one spinner, Harbhajan Singh, or would feel the need to rope in another in the form of either R.Ashwin or Piyush Chawla, though the inclusion of the latter seems more probable.
England player Kevin Pietersen during a practice session in Bangalore.
The England team on the other hand would rather prefer keeping things under the shallow and surprise their opponent by a brilliant performance. I suppose they are still not out of their Ashes win but pretty sure they have just buried deep under, their poor ODI loss against the Aussies. Kevin Pietersen is in good form and statistically he is England's best batsman in India with an average of 56.08 from 14 matches and the lone century maker among the team's current top order. Also to take note is the fact that he has been the only England player to feature regularly and thus play most number of matches in the Indian Premier League, for his franchisee Royal Challengers Bangalore. So, no doubt he knows the Indian playing conditions more than some of his counterparts.
Well, here's wishing MS and his Team India All the Very Best for the crucial face-off. Rock on Guyz !
Picture Source: Cricinfo.com
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