VADODARA, April 4: The Indian cricket team's stocks are on a bullish run. Every blue chip in the side has zoomed, taking the nation's cricketing sensex to a new high. Last year the side could do nothing right. This year they could do no wrong - at least in the first quarter of the year - as heckles have given way to hossannahs.The cricketing nomads latest stop is Vadodara, where they take on Zimbabwe tomorrow at the well-manicured grass of the Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Limited (IPCL). It's the second match for both teams in the Pepsi Triangular series - India beat Australia in a thriller at Kochi and Zimbabwe lost to Steve Waugh's side quite narrowly at Ahmedabad yesterday.Zimbabwe's track record against India is dismal, losing 12 of the 16 One-Day Internationals (ODI) played between them so far. But in their last four encounters, India have been able to win just one match, losing twice and tying the other."I am not a great believer in the past. Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a newmatch and a new day. The two major factors in India's favour now is that they are playing good cricket and are doing so on their home soil. But having said that, I believe we have a chance if we play positively," a pragmatic Alistair Campbell said in a chat with The Indian Express.The Zimbabwean skipper said that his team has to tighten things up in a few areas. "The middle-order has to consolidate on the early gains and the bowling in the middle overs has to be more effective," he said. While the side has won universal acclaims for their fielding, Campbell said his side had scope for improvement in that department too."We let off (Ricky) Ponting early in the innings and paid the penalty yesterday. Now we cannot afford that kind of lapse against a batsman like Sachin Tendulkar," he opined.It was a match Zimbabwe should have won. "We were in the hunt for a long time. We lost our way between the 30th and 40th overs. I think it all boils down to lack of experience. A question of not being inthose kind of positions too often and not knowing what it takes to convert an advantageous position into victory," he said.An out-of-form captain is never good news for the team and Campbell's heroics against Australia was the biggest gain for the team. "The fact that I overcame a rocky patch will, hopefully, augur well for us," said the Ahmedabad Man of the Match, who scored a gritty 102.India are certain to effect two changes: Saurav Ganguly, after serving a one-match suspension, will replace Navjot Sidhu while the belatedly resurrected Venkatesh Prasad will take the vacancy created by the injured Javagal Srinath.Coach Anshuman Gaekwad said that the wicket had copious moisture when he inspected it at 9.30 this morning. If the conditions are similar tomorrow morning, then Debashish Mohanty will retain his place in the eleven. In the absence of a moisture-laden track, left-arm spinner Rahul Sanghvi will get a look-in.There are encouraging signs that efforts are made in casting the net far and widein preparation for next year's World Cup. Gaekwad explained that the idea was a thought towards forming a pool of 25 players, besides the 14 who are part of the Indian side.It may be a logical extension of such an exercise that Delhi off-spinner Nikhil Chopra (24) and Madhya Pradesh batsman Jai Prakash Yadav (23) were invited here to join the Indian team in the practice sessions.The focus on Yadav is interesting. A hard-hitting batsman, he scored centuries against Bengal and Hyderabad for a tally of 788 runs in the last Ranji season to finish eighth in the list of the country's top run-getters in the National Championship.Gaekwad reckoned that senior players will have to get meaningful rest in turns from the hectic schedule while Azhar opined that the proliferation of ODIs could halve the life span of playing careers because of the burn out factor, especially in the kind of weather they have been playing the Pepsi Triangular.Heat wave continues to scorch Gujarat. The temperatures here is as bad asit was in Ahmedabad, hovering around 43 degrees Celsius. The plethora of unscheduled breaks taken by the players to replenish loss of body fluids, has meant that the quota of overs are not bowled in the stipulated time. The resultant fall-out is that the players have to settle for an abbreviated luncheon break. It's a situation which hits the opening batsmen of the side batting second the hardest as they have precious little time for rest and recoupment before they get into the middle of the "oven" again.THE TEAMSIndia (from): Mohammed Azharuddin (captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, Vinod Kambli, Ajay Jadeja, Hrishikesh Kanitkar, Nayan Mongia, Ajit Agarkar, Anil Kumble, Venkatesh Prasad, Rahul Sanghvi, Debashish Mohanty, Venkata Sai Laxman and Harbhajan Singh. Coach: Anshuman GaekwadZimbabwe (from): Alistair Campbell (captain), Grant Flower, Murray Goodwin, Andrew Flower, Guy Whittall, Heath Streak, Craig Wishart, Craig Evans, Dirk Viljoen, Andrew Whittall, Adam Huckle,Paul Strang, Gary Brent & Mpumelelo Mbangwa. Coach: David Houghton.Umpires: Jasbir Singh & Pratap Kumar. Third umpire: CR MohiteICC referee: Peter Van der Merwe (South Africa). BCCI observer: Nilay Dutta (Assam)Timings: 9.00 a.m onwards first session. Second session: 1.15 p.m. onwards.
