Indians find their groove for final assault

Anything pitched on middle or on middle and leg was flicked with unerring precision; anything pitched outside off stump that gave him the slightest width was thumped away past cover or midoff. That leaves a very very narrow margin of error for any bowler.

The others are playing around Sachin according to a plan which, at the moment, seems to be working to perfection. Sehwag seems to have found his form at last and, if he can give support to Tendulkar while the latter is in such devastating form, it augurs really well for India.

The one-day game revolves around batting strength and this strength has to be shown by the top order, particularly by the openers and the number three batsman. With Tendulkar, Sehwag and Ganguly clicking on all cylinders, India have got everything in place at the right time.

The youngsters Kaif and Yuvraj are also providing admirable support and the entire machine is ably bolstered by the ever dependable Rahul Dravid.

What would, however, be of special satisfaction to Indian supporters was the fine performance of their seamers — all three of them. They got movement and bounce and pace from what appeared to be a perfect batting track. Srinath demolished the Sri Lankans in the first few overs, ripping apart their top batting order and virtually winning the match in his opening spell.

Nehra and Zaheer Khan gave him excellent support and this new found strength in the fast bowling department will give the Indians a new edge altogether.

They have good spin support as well and their one and only problem at the moment seems to be the fifth bowler. Against Sri Lanka, this was not called into play but it will be against opposition that requires them to bowl the full 50 overs.

Perhaps the inclusion of Sanjay Bangar in place of Dinesh Mongia is something that may be considered for the crucial games now coming up, where all the good work done till now has to be built upon for a final assault on the World Cup itself. The argument must be that with India’s top six batsmen batting so well, they do not really need a seventh batsman and with Dravid taking the wicketkeeping responsibility on himself, this gives India the option of doing away with the seventh batsman.

India’s fielding in the Sri Lanka game was also from the top drawer. No wonder skipper Ganguly was elated with the allround performance — he just had nothing to complain about! Youngsters like Kaif, Yuvraj, Sehwag and Zaheer have brought a zip and urgency to the Indian fielding which makes them look like a top class outfit.

For the Sri Lankans, it must have been one of their worst days at the office. Given their last few performances, it does appear that while India is peaking at the right time and at the right pace, the Sri Lankans appear to be moving in the opposite direction.

Jayawardene seems to be having the sort of nightmare that Inzamam has gone through in this tournament and Arnold does not appear to be following too far behind. Their running between the wickets has been abysmal and their body language against India seemed to suggest that they did not entertain any very great hopes from the outing on Monday.

Sanath Jayasuriya’s decision to put India in after winning the toss was mystifying, to say the least, given that the pitch was perfect and the weather forecast dicey. Both factors were strong reasons for Sri Lanka to have made first use of the wicket. Their only chance now is to beat Zimbabwe and hope at the same time that Zimbabwe beats Kenya and India beats New Zealand.

At the moment, all hopes for Asian supremacy would seem to rest squarely on India.

(The writer is the former captain of Kent and Pakistan)