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Ahmedabad ODI: Litmus test for Tendulkar, Ganguly Publish Date : 4/12/2005 7:53:00 PM Source : Travel News ExpressNewsline.com The fourth India-Pakistan one-day international (ODI), to be played at the Sardar Patel Stadium here Tuesday, will be a litmus test for out-of-form captain Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar. While Tendulkar has scored 12 runs in three matches in the ongoing series and Ganguly 13, most of the responsibility has been borne by vice-captain Rahul Dravid and Virender Sehwag. Although India lead the six-match series 2-1, Pakistan seem to be gaining strength and confidence after the reverses it suffered in the first two matches at Kochi and Visakhapatnam. They beat India in the third ODI at Jamshedpur Saturday. Incidentally, both Dravid and Sehwag have scored an identical 184 runs in the first three matches. And, in another coincidence, both have scored one century and one half-century each to lead India's charge. After the renowned Indian batting line-up ran up 280-plus totals at Kochi and Visakhapatnam, thanks largely to contributions from Dravid and Sehwag, it inexplicably came a cropper at Jamshedpur to be the main factor in the 106-run loss. Pakistani pacer Rana Naveed-ul-Hasan ripped open the Indian batting with a six-wicket haul as the home team clearly lacked purpose and the desire to stage a fight back when the chips were down. Apart from getting back their form at the Sardar Patel Stadium, Tendulkar and Ganguly will have to ensure that the all-round criticism does not affect their mental make up. At the back of their minds, there will be another matter as they take the field Tuesday - that fact that this is the last international series under coach John Wright. The two stalwarts will no doubt like to gift him the trophy as he leaves for his home in Christchurch, New Zealand, after the final match in Delhi April 17. Tendulkar and Ganguly realise that in limited overs cricket, there are few opportunities to come back in a game, unlike in Test cricket. So, it is likely that both would be initially cautious and would like to spend as much time at the crease as possible. While Tendulkar will have the opportunity and time to gauge the pitch and the opposition if he once again opens the innings with Sehwag, Ganguly will have to come up with something special at No. 3 position, or later if wicket-keeper Mahender Singh Dhoni is once more promoted in the order. Ideally, Dravid should bat at No. 3 because of his ability to bind the innings together with sensible batting and he also keeps one end going while rotating the strike, an aspect that he seems to have mastered now. After the decision to promote Dhoni paid rich dividends at Visakhapatnam - he scored his maiden century there - a similar move misfired in Jamshedpur where he was out playing an ambitious stroke when the team needed him to stay in the middle. India will be up not just against Pakistan but also the record of the venue that has in the past gone in favour of the opposing team. Both the matches played here, against Australia and England, have been won by the visiting teams. Pakistan seem to have no such problem, especially after Salman Butt (101), Shoaib Malik (75) and Yousuf Youhana (43) helped them cross the 300-run barrier at Jamshedpur after being all out for 194 and 298 in the first two matches. At Keenan Stadium in Jamshedpur, the Pakistanis displayed the same aggression and intensity as they did on the fifth day of the third Test at Bangalore March 28. That day they looked more focussed and intense than before and the changed approach fetched them a big 168-run win that drew the three-Test series 1-1. India will perhaps do well to borrow a leaf out of the Pakistani manual as the two teams square up at this most-talked of the 11 venues at which the visitors were initially reluctant to play because of the 2002 communal riots in the state. India: Sourav Ganguly (captain), Rahul Dravid Pakistan: Inzamam-ul Haq (captain), Younis Khan Umpires: Rudi Koertzen (South Africa) and R. Hariharan (India) -Indo-Asian News Service
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