India really deserve to be in the final. After the early struggle, they have improved with every passing game. They were obviously hurt when almost everyone, including some former cricketers, condemned them when they lost to Australia.In 1983, the Kapil’s Devils were considered underdogs and nobody in their wildest of dream expected to win the Cup. But they did the impossible and brought the World Cup to India for the first time. In contrast, the present team has a powerful batting line-up and, most importantly, all the batsmen are in good nick. Similarly, ever since we started playing cricket, we never had such a menacing and penetrating pace attack.Srinath, we all know, is a great bowler but in his company both Zaheer and Ashish have also started commanding great respect amongst the great batsmen in the world. India also seem to have lot of options as the fifth bowler in Saurav, Sachin, Sehwag, Mongia and Yuvraj as the situation may demand. With lots of live-wire youngsters in the team, our fielding is almost on par with that of Australia.What India need today is quite an aggro against the confident and ruthless Aussies. Also, they should not allow the Australian tail — stronger than the Kiwis and the Kenyans — to wag. India’s ace off-spinner, Harbhajan Singh has to bowl better than what he has been bowling so far. The Aussies are traditionally weak against off-spin and they still remember him running through almost single-handedly at Eden Gardens.Of course, Sachin has to be at his best. He has to stay there in the middle for all the 50 overs if we have to put up 275 runs on the board or chase the same total. It will be great to watch the battle between bat and ball when Brett Lee comes thundering down to bowl his fastest at Sachin. He has already thrown down the gauntlet and it is for Sachin to pick it up. And how long can he go on missing his hundred? At the same time, the Indian batsmen just cannot afford to take the wily McGrath and the superb trier called Bichel, lightly.The Aussies are not that infallible or invincible. It’s only the opposition — as New Zealand and Sri Lanka proved — that failed miserably. And, how long can the Aussies’ winning streak continue? India beat them at Eden Gardens after they had won 16 Tests in a row. Isn’t it a coincidence that today also, Australia facing India after 16 consecutive wins in ODI?The principle of law of averages must apply to them today for certain. India have to win this World Cup after Bees Saal Bad. Keep your fingers crossed and the champagne ready.
