As the big,white team bus pulled into the Motera Stadium,it radiated an invisible halo as only a Team India bus can. The expression of expectations on the local cops faces soon turned to one of searching confusion,as a bunch of new faces trooped out of the vehicle. Tendulkar,Sehwag nathi che,match hari gayo (No Tendulkar or Sehwag,we will lose the match), a local constable was heard telling his colleagues. But for coach Gary Kirsten,it is these unfamiliar players still on the fringes of instant-recognition who will be the focus of the third ODI at Ahmedabad,with India securely in possession of an unassailable 2-0 lead against the visiting South Africans. Getting the best from the benchers will be on Kirstens agenda,even as the third one-dayer becomes an anti-climax to the series in which Sachin Tendulkars 200 will overshadow all else. Mahendra Singh Dhoni had mentioned how hard it was to rotate players in the Indian team,as there was the pressure of winning every game they carried with them. But with the fate of the series sealed,gambling with selection will not be frowned upon as India seek perfect replacements for the future. Kirsten pointed out how a players character gets tested in pressure-games and that this was no different. We wanted to see how benchers cope with the pressure. If you see,there are some players in the side who have done extremely well when opportunities have come up. They show their toughness,and as an international player we all know a debutant gets less time to prove himself. We have all gone through it and now we want to see how they tackle the pressure, Kirsten said. There are a few players eager to fire,as a good show against a side such as South Africa will add weightage to points scored. Of those,Rohit Sharma,Sudeep Tyagi and Amit Mishra have been in and out of the side while Murali Vijay is all set to earn his first blue jersey. Vijay,picked as a replacement for the rested Virender Sehwag,would like to take his Test form into the shorter version,while a paceman such as Sudeep Tyagi who has been in the side for a while now will get another chance to showcase his temperament. Tyagi has suffered the most curious of stop-starts to his international career after his chance against the Australians saw the match being rained off in Mumbai,while the notorious Delhi pitch went all cranky when he lined up for India against the Lankans. There are no clouds waiting to burst over Motera,neither is there a devilish pitch,so Tyagi should,we dare say,get a break from the bizarre and play a normal one-dayer this time. Kirsten said this game would help the team get an idea of which players could be part of Indias preparation for 2011 World Cup. We want to have big competition in the side because only after that can we see good shows from each one of them, he said. Mumbais middle-order batsman Rohit Sharma,said intense competition did push the players to do well. Sharma,on the brink of a Test debut,twisted his ankle freakishly before the Nagpur Test,and will now be keen to get into the thick of things. Meanwhile,the South Africans will want to fly back with at least one win in the one-dayers and prove that they are no pushovers in the shorter format. The South Africans are expected,once again,to experiment with their playing XI,but to what extent remains to be seen. We have a lot at stake and we are more eager to win so that we can prove a point. So far our top-order has been disappointing as they havent done well. We really want to win this match, said AB de Villiers. LIVE on Neo Cricket 2.30pm
