SHARJAH, OCTOBER 21: Having received a rude shock when they lost to Sri Lanka by five wickets in the opening encounter on Friday, India would be looking to get their act together against Zimbabwe on Sunday in their next match of the triangular one-day cricket series here.India, who feel they were done in by the heavy dew on the outfield during the latter part of the game against Sri Lanka, are banking as much on their strength as on the tiredness of their opponents.Zimbabwe would be playing for the second consecutive day tomorrow and that suits Saurav Ganguly and his men just fine.The Indian batsmen need to change their approach on this wicket, where the ball does not quite come on to the bat and going for the big hits can be risky.Batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar has shown the way with his uncharacteristic hundred against Sri Lanka yesterday, in which he hit just three fours and a six. This is exactly the approach to take and the Indians, especially Ganguly, would do well to rely on working the singles and twos rather than opt for going over the top.Ganguly would be hoping to win the toss again, but this time for a different reason. For once, the Indians would like to bat second.As was evident in the game against Sri Lanka, the ball does not come on to the bat and the outfield is sluggish in the afternoon. But once dew starts falling, the ball comes nicely on to the bat and the outfield is also quicker.Besides, Ganguly believes his bowlers could not do much with so much dew falling yesterday. India also need to urgently do something about the numerous run-outs. As many as four batsmen, including Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, were run-out against Sri Lanka, which cost them dearly.Tendulkar and Dravid have now been run out in two successive innings and Ganguly must check this malaise before it spreads.India's bowling appears thin and Ganguly is toying with the idea of playing Sunil Joshi in place of Ajit Agarkar. Joshi, a left-arm spinner from Karnataka, has better chances of success against the Zimbabweans who play pace better than spin.Otherwise India would be starting with the same line-up as the one that played against Sri Lanka yesterday.On the other hand Heath Streak and his men realise a win against India would immensely increase their chances of qualifying for the finals.If India were to lose this game also, they would go in to the next week's final phase of league matches with no wins.In contrast, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe would have at least a couple of points against their names.Zimbabwe will be strengthened by the return of Alistair Campbell, who was served one-match suspension during the ICC knock-out tournament in Nairobi for showing his dissent on being adjudged leg before wicket against New Zealand.``I wasn't out, that's one. Then if I was around, our team could have gone on to beat New Zealand,'' said the elegant middle order batsman. Campbell is in tremendous nick in recent times and along with Stuart Carlisle would form the back bone of Zimbabwe batting.Zimbabwe would also be looking for good performances from the Flower brothers, Guy Whittall and Craig Wishart. Skipper Heath Streak will obviously like to contribute both with the bat and the ball.The Teams (from): India: Saurav Ganguly (Capt), Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Vinod Kambli, Yuvraj Singh, Robin Singh, Vijay Dahiya, Anil Kumble, Zaheer Khan, Venkatesh Prasad, Ajit Agarkar and Sunil Joshi.Zimbabwe: Heath Streak, Douglas Marillier, Andy Flower, Grant Flower, Guy Whittall, Stuart Carlisle, Trevis Friend, Trevor Madondo, Bryan Strang, Paul Strang and Craig Wishart.Umpires: Daryl Harper (Australia) and Steve Dunne (New Zealand)Third Umpire: George Sharp.
