By Abhishek Roy, IANS
Kochi : After Saturday’s wash out at Bangalore, both the Indian and the Australian cricket teams are praying hard to keep the rain gods away so that the second one-day international in this port city Tuesday does not meet a similar fate.
It has been raining heavily for the past few days here and with more showers expected, there is a huge question mark on the match at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium Tuesday morning.
Both teams had to cancel their practice sessions Monday morning and preferred to stay back at the hotel. But as the day progressed, the sun came out and both teams went for a practice session in the afternoon.
If the match is played, India have little time to iron out some of the weaknesses that emerged in the rain-hit first ODI at Bangalore.
The Indian team seemed to be basking in the glory of their Twenty20 success, but the feel good factor was disturbed by 26-year-old Australian Michael Clarke who hit a career-best 130 and helped the visitors recover from a weak 90 for four to an imposing 307 for seven in 50 overs.
Clarke took the battle to the home bowlers. There was some undisciplined bowling by the Indians and they have to sort out the problem when they take on the four-time World Cup champions here.
The Indian batting was not tested against a young Australian bowling attack because only 2.4 overs could be bowled in the Indian innings. But it was a poor start for India, as maestro Sachin Tendulkar was back in the pavilion without scoring after he was trapped leg before by Mitchell Johnson.
Tuesday, India will be without Sourav Ganguly, who has been rested for the game after he pulled a hamstring while fielding Saturday. So Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid have to shoulder more responsibility against the Australians.
Australian captain Ricky Ponting is still doubtful for the match and stand-in captain Adam Glichrist said: “When Ricky is not available you lose the best batsman in the world. It is really frustrating.”
Ponting is still nursing the hamstring injury he suffered while batting against Pakistan in a Group F Super 8s match of the recently concluded Twenty20 World Championships in Johannesburg.
For India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni this series is an acid test. He came out with flying colours as he led a raw team to victory in the Twenty20 last week.
But Dhoni was hardly impressive in his debut match as ODI captain at Bangalore, looking short of ideas as Australia set about compiling a formidable total from a rather precarious situation.
The Indian captain must learn quickly to stand up to the mighty Australians.
But all depends on the weather, which has been mostly wet for the past few days.
Teams:
Australia (from): Ricky Ponting (captain), Adam Gilchrist (vice-captain/wicketkeeper), Nathan Bracken, Stuart Clark, Michael Clarke, Brad Haddin, Matthew Hayden, Ben Hilfenhaus, Brad Hodge, Brad Hogg, James Hopes, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Andrew Symonds and Adam Voges.
India (from): Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain/wicketkeeper), Yuvraj Singh (vice-captain), Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Dinesh Karthik, Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa, Irfan Pathan, Ramesh Powar, Rudra Pratap Singh, Zaheer Khan, S. Sreesanth and Harbhajan Singh.
Umpires: Steve Bucknor (West Indies) and Suresh Shastri (India).
Third umpire: G. Pratapkumar (India).
Match referee: Chris Broad (England).