Australians book final berth, wait for Ganguly’s men

Nets over, as most of the Indians rushed to catch the last stages of the match, two stayed back. Sanjay Bangar, when told about the rain, said ‘‘it does not really matter who we will at this stage, even Kenya cannot be taken lightly. All teams are equal at this stage.’’ Just then Mongia walked with his kit bag. ‘‘Australia are in the finals,’’ he said loudly.

What he said wouldn’t have made his skipper happy but, Kenya willing, Ganguly has the chance to plot his revenge. And when the Indian team watch the replay, they will see how close the Lankans were to having Australia on the rack.

At 51/3, the champions were in trouble. Had Sri Lanka enjoyed India’s bowling riches, they would have gone for the kill. But Jayasuriya, packing his side with seven batsmen, had only three specialist bowlers to choose from.

There was no Ashish Nehra as first change; instead, he had to open with the profligate Gunaratne. Inexplicably, though his spinners were causing the damage, he brought Gunaratne back on and lost the advantage.

And usually, against Australia, once you lose the advantage you lose the match.

From that teetering moment, Australia reached deep into their seemingly endless reserves of character and patience and set up the safe total of 212/7.

How often have Australia been on the rack in this world cup — against England, Pakistan, New Zealand — and how often they’ve found someone willing to stand up and be counted. That someone was, again, Andrew Symonds, who scored a typically pugnacious unbeaten 91.

The champions then made sure of victory by knocking the stuffing out of a shaky Sri Lankan batting. They were 123/7 when rain stopped play and, when Duckworth/Lewis was brought into play, Australia were deemed to have won by 48 runs.

If Ganguly can take heart at Australia’s early vulnerability, however, their batting depth — all the way down to Lee at No. 10 — should prompt him to re-think his aversion to change the side and go in with five bowlers. Whether three pacers and two spinners or four plus one is open to debate.

But Ganguly, being Ganguly, will probably not countenance any of it. A possible grudge match with Australia is still 100 or so overs away. Before that, there’s a semi-final to be fought and won.