By Pervez Bari, TwoCircles.net,
Indore: After overwhelming England by a huge margin of 158, courtesy Yuvraj Singh’s hurricane knock of 138 not out, in the first One Day International, (ODI), cricket match at Rajkot, India take on Englishmen in the second ODI match of Hero Honda Cup 2008 here at the lush green Maharani Usha Raje Cricket stadium here on Monday with a high level of confidence but not bordering on complacency.
Complacency often ruins a team after a spectacular performance and this has to be guarded against. And Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni is well aware of this factor in sports and he was quick to assert this while inter-acting with newspersons in pre-match Press conference here on Sunday.
He said his team will have to guard against complacency when they take on England on Monday. He stated “We are always wary of becoming complacent because if we lose then we will be criticized that we were overconfident. We are always focused on what needs to be done”.
However, India’s confidence may be dented as Yuvraj Singh, the architect of Rajkot triumph, has become a doubtful starter for the second match of the seven-ODI series, with his nagging back pain problem still persisting though it has improved somewhat. At Rajkot Yuvraj fighting bravely his back pain had to take the help of a runner to put his best foot forward to thump the English attack to smithereens.
“There`s considerable improvement in Yuvraj`s condition. But we will take a final call on him before the match,” Dhoni informed.
However, speedster Ishant Sharma was all but ruled out with an ankle sprain for the second ODI also as he requires more time to recover completely.
To a query Dhoni refused to comment on his appearance in a chaotic exhibition match — along with two other teammates – in Bhandara, Maharashtra before the second one-dayer against England. “We are talking about the match tomorrow. Ask the BCCI,” he retorted when queried on the matter initially.
When another question was fired, he said “I have said already to talk only about tomorrow`s second one-day international. Baad mein aapko masala mil jayega (You will get enough spicy details afterwards)”, he added.
It may be mentioned here that Dhoni and pacers Zaheer Khan and RP Singh yesterday managed to come out unscathed from a near stampede situation after the exhibition match where they had gone to inaugurate a cricket academy started in the name of the father of Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel.
Hundreds of local fans, who gathered to have a glimpse of their heroes, rushed on to the ground posing a serious security hazard for the players and raising questions whether adequate security was in place. The players had left for Bhandara from Rajkot after the first ODI.
Meanwhile, Dhoni hit back at Australian opener Matthew Hayden’s ‘third world’ remark and said the Aussies are always slow in finishing their quota of overs, no matter which part of the world they play.
“The Australians have played all over the world and their over-rate has been slow all over the world,” Dhoni’s remarked sarcastically.
Paul Collingwood, deputizing for England captain Kevin Petersen, speaking to presspersons at the pre-match Press briefing said pace bowler Ryan Sidebottom will be available for Monday’s second ODI. Sidebottom missed Friday’s opening match due to an Achilles injury he picked up at the start of the Stanford Twenty20 competition in the Caribbean last month.
Meanwhile, coach Peter Moores has also called for his team to be more aggressive in their bid to square the seven-match series.
“I think we can be more aggressive as a unit and take that into the next game and not wait for the game to take shape,” Moores said on the England and Wales Cricket Board website.
“We have to remind ourselves how we play our brand of cricket and play that brand of cricket in different places.”
The last international cricket match which was played here was also between India and England on April 15, 2006. This match India had won by seven wickets comfortably chasing a target of 288 and certainly Dhoni boys would like to repeat history on this ground.
Meanwhile, the hard top wicket is full of runs. According to curator Samandar Singh the wicket is hard and there are slight cracks in it from where sprouts of grass are growing. “We are working hard to ensure that the wicket plays the same for both innings. I think a score of 280 will be getable on this strip and there will be very little in it for spinners”, he averred.
However, Dhoni felt the wicket prepared for the tie here would not be like the one on which the Indian batsmen feasted on the hapless England attack.
“The wicket will not be like the one at Rajkot. There would be wear and tear as the match progresses. It`s dry and it would become slow and it will be difficult to score, but all these are only predictions. The toss is important,” he said.
The predominant red soil content in the wickets here offers bounce which makes stroke-making slightly easier. Add to it short boundaries and a very quick outfield and another run feast looks on the cards. ([email protected])