Depleted squad on desperate mission

‘‘Gayle has played very well so far in the series. We are working on a new strategy to contain him,’’ said Wright, without spelling out what he actually he means by that. ‘‘Dravid is in the hot seat. Happily, we are playing good cricket, particularly our batsmen,’’ added coach John Wright.

But West indian skipper Carl Hooper was confident personified while talking about his opener in form. ‘‘He has contributed significantly to the team’s success. Three one-day centuries in the series is something we all cherish.’’

The Barkatullah Khan Stadium in this City of Forts presents another opportunity to the home team to stage a comeback again although they will be missing the services of Saurav Ganguly.

‘‘It is a great opportunity some of the youngsters in the team. More than the pressure, it is a great chance for youngsters to perform. They can turn it around. We are keen to put up a good show here. Definitely, we will miss the services of the experienced players in the squad. But in one-day cricket all level of cricketers are expected to do well,’’ was how Dravid put India’s chances in the game tomorrow. Dravid announced that left-handed Dinesh Mongia would come in place of Ganguly.

Talking about the wicket, prepared by local curator Badri Lal, Dravid said: ‘‘The wicket looks all right now. It has been watered a bit. I can give my judgement only tomorrow morning. As of now, it seems the wicket will have low bounce.’’.

The salient feature of the current series has been that teams chasing have tasted success. ‘‘We haven’t given a thought as yet on what we will do if we win the toss. I don’t want to give away too many options, Dravid told newsmen after the team’s practice session in the afternoon.’’

Hooper too expressed similar thoughts. ‘‘We would like to stay with the current trend (of chasing totals). But if we have no option, we would like to put up a good total, bowl and field well and defend our score,’’ Hooper said.

The West Indian said his team will not take things easy despite the Indians missing the services of Ganguly. ‘‘We discuss each and every Indian player in our team meeting. There will be no complacency on our part. We will not change our approach to the game,’’ he added.

The five matches in the current series have been close encounters. This one here should be no different. Another flat track and another nightmare for the bowlers. Whatever the result of the game, the 45,000-capacity crowd should get its money’s worth.