Mind games before big Test

THE pitch is an unknown commodity, but on the eve of the match the two skippers preferred to concentrat on psychology: A rare away-win for I...

THE pitch is an unknown commodity, but on the eve of the match the two skippers preferred to concentrat on psychology: A rare away-win for India at Port of Spain, a fighting comeback by the West Indies at Bridgetown. And, given the aggressive questioning by Caribbean journalists, two more possible mental blocks for the India XI: umpiring decisions that went the other way and controversy in India about tax defaults.

No wonder it was Saurav Ganguly who decided to be more taciturn. Psychological handicaps? 8216;8216;The next two days will tell,8217;8217; was his response. A grin and a blink on defaults and an emphatic statement on umpiring: 8216;8216;We8217;ll have new umpires. Obviously the message must have been passed on to them, to the third umpire.8217;8217;

A losing eleven is never carried forward to the next venue and Anil Kumble makes a quiet return to the side. Denying that Harbhajan Singh is nursing an injury, Ganguly told The Indian Express that the reason lies elsewhere: 8216;8216;Harbhajan has not bowled well in the last two Tests.8217;8217;

Other than that the team remains the same 8212; Wasim Jaffer stays, as does Ajay Ratra. But given a recent history of last-minute changes on the day of the Test, a swap or two may still be possible.

The Indians have had to make do with practice at the nets at their hotel itself, with a pre-match session at the Antigua Recreation Ground ruled out for both sides. So for now Ganguly can only conjecture about a pitch that hasn8217;t been used since last July. 8216;8216;It8217;s going to do a bit in the first couple of hours, and then it8217;s going to be a good batting surface.8217;8217;

Carl Hooper, on the other hand, appeared keen to emphasise the home side8217;s edge: 8216;8216;After Barbados I think we might hold the edge. Even if you look at the second innings I don8217;t think they batted too well. Even their key player like Sachin Tendulkar has not been batting too well.8217;8217;

8216;8216;It is very important for us to make sure that when we leave Antigua we are in front, but certainly not behind.8217;8217; Hooper8217;s words, but those could well be Ganguly8217;s thoughts.