When India play Australia on Sunday, there will be some batsmen in the dressing room who will breathe a sigh of relief.
Australian strike bowler Brett Lee is being rested keeping in mind the hectic schedule ahead
ADELAIDE: When India play Australia on Sunday, there will be some batsmen in the dressing room who will breathe a sigh of relief. Worried about the hard work Brett Lee has been putting in, almost non-stop, the Australian team management has decided to give the strike bowler a rest.
He will not feature in Sunday's tri-series match at the Adelaide Oval. Lee will not travel to Adelaide with the rest of the Australian team and missing Sunday's game will give him almost a week-long break before the World champs plays their next match, against Sri Lanka on February 22 in Melbourne.
However, the spotlight will be on two key batsmen from either side. Adam Gilchrist was ‘reportedly’ angry with Rudy Koertzen’s decision in Melbourne. He showed that anger in Perth against Sri Lanka on Friday.
It may not be that bad if the Indian vice-captain Yuvraj Singh gets one bad decision. Who knows it might inspire him too. Supposed to be the most talented young Indian batsman, Yuvraj has scored 11 runs in three games in the tri-series after a disastrous Test outing.
Having afforded him so long in the series, India may well afford another failure if that can ensure his return to form. Yuvraj, any way, is not going to be dropped.
Yuvraj’s protracted failures have left a vacuum in the middle order. His free-flowing batting and ability to rotate, accelerate and attack was a key factor in the middle overs and India would be looking for their vice-captain to strike form soon enough. There may not be a better time than Sunday for Yuvraj to strike form.
With India in second position — behind Australia — India need all the firepower from the Punjab player to make a match against a reinvigorated Australians, who had lost their last game to India.
A win on the morrow will immensely increase India’s chance of reaching the final. After Sunday, India, of course, will have three more matches in the series. Skipper MS Dhoni believes that Yuvraj is the batsman around whom the team’s batting revolves. It is time Yuvraj justified his captain’s faith.
It is not just Yuvraj who could be needing inspiration. Australia may well hope their skipper Ricky Ponting too gets one bad decision so that he gets inspired. With a reputation of being the best batsman in the world, Ponting has done little justice to his image in the series.
He has managed only 43 runs in four games with an average of just over 10 runs. Ponting is surely known for bigger numbers.
More than the numbers what could be worrying the Australian is the manner in which he has been dismissed. The Australian captain has shown some chink in his defense, having been repeatedly caught in the slips.
His inability to sort out his game against young Indian rookie fast bowler Ishant Sharma must be rankling Australia’s premier batsman. Ponting has been at the centre of everything, on as well as off the field during India’s tour.
The racism row between Harbhajan Singh and Andrew Symonds and catches claimed by him and Michael Clarke in Sydney, which replays showed were not taken cleanly has put Ponting constantly in the spotlight.
But Sunday’s contest will be more than an acid test for Yuvraj and Ponting. A win on Sunday will take either side close to final. Having suffered a rare defeat at the hands of India in Melbourne, Australia are expected to look for some kind of revenge.
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