Jodhpur's Barkatullah Khan Stadium, named after a
former Rajasthan Chief Minister, becomes India's
latest ODI venue on Friday when the hosts take on
Zimbabwe in the third of the five match one-day
series. Going by the manner in which India shut
out their opponents at Ahmedabad, coach John
Wright has few worries on his mind. "I think if we
continue to play well, the results will take care
of themselves. The series is still young. We need
to be very positive and ruthless in our attitude.
We have the opportunity to win the series here and
that is very important", he told reporters at the
venue.
Wright did however stress that there was still
room for improvement, especially in the bowling
and fielding, although the latter department has
lifted itself up after the Cuttack off-day. The
Indians have been shuffling the fielding positions
around in a bid to settle at the best combination
and Venkatesh Prasad and Hemang Badani were seen
going through an intensive slip catching routine.
Skipper Sourav Ganguly confirmed that Ajit Agarkar
who missed the last match because of a side strain
was fit and available for selection. As usual,
Nikhil Chopra and Shiv Sunder Das have been
jettisoned from the twelve.
Zimbabwean skipper Heath Streak presented a
gloomier picture and could not conceal his
disappointment at the way the series had
progressed. Indeed it's quite amazing that
Zimbabwe, an extremely competitive one-day side,
have never beaten India in India after eleven
attempts so far - a tie in Indore being the best
they've accomplished. The cumulative burden of
past failures has seemingly made a heavy dent in
their confidence. It only needs one win to turn
things around but the Zimbabweans must now be
wondering whether it isn't easier to walk the
length of the Great Rajasthan Desert than to
defeat India at home.
Streak pointed the finger at the bowlers as having
let the side down in Ahmedabad and hoped that an
improved effort would see them containing India to
within 250-260. "The conditions aren't suitable
for our kind of bowling. All of us are swing
bowlers and there is no margin of error on these
wickets. We've given them too many easy scoring
opportunities. There are no special remedies other
than discipline", he remarked. He said the injury
to Guy Whittall which has prevented him from
bowling in the series has robbed them of some
extra options. "It leaves us with only three seam
bowlers and we've had to use some part-time
spinners to fill up the overs". A groin injury to
Dirk Viljoen has meant there will be at least one
change in the side. Batting first and putting runs
on the board is probably the key to Zimbabwe's
success and Streak admitted that it was going to
be an important toss to win.
The wicket is expected to dry out into another
beauty which should offer quality entertainment
for a maximum of 30,000 spectators who can fill
this stadium, constructed entirely with Jodhpuri
red stone. The match promises to be an energysapping affair with the heat in this part of
Marwar in west Rajasthan being positively
oppressive. The ground, which was established in
1986, has held just three first class matches, two
in the late eighties and a tour game between the
New Zealanders and the Board President's XI in
October last year.
The teams:
India (from): Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar,
Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh, Hemang Badani,
Reetinder Sodhi, Sridharan Sriram, Vijay Dahiya,
Sunil Joshi, Ajit Agarkar, Venkatesh Prasad and
Zaheer Khan.
Zimbabwe (from): Heath Streak, Alistair Campbell,
Douglas Marillier, Stuart Carlisle, Andy Flower,
Grant Flower, Guy Whittall, Travis Friend, Brian
Murphy, Henry Olonga, Gavin Rennie, Trevor
Madondo, Bryan Strang and Mluleki Nkala.
Umpires: CR Mohite and SK Bansal. Third Umpire: S
Banerjee.
Playing hours: 9.00 am to 12.30 pm. 1.15 pm to
4.45 pm.