Ramesh likely for Jadeja

JAIPUR, March 23: A little more than two years ago, this city of historic forts and jagged hilltops was witness to a significant event in...

JAIPUR, March 23: A little more than two years ago, this city of historic forts and jagged hilltops was witness to a significant event in Indian cricket history. It was then that a tight-lipped left-hander from Calcutta walked out for the first time with a short, curly-haired phenomenon to open India8217;s one-day innings. An irritated bunch of South Africans, then, watched them stick together to pick up more than 100 runs during that Titan Cup match. Tomorrow, a blur of one-day matches after that dusty afternoon, Wasim Akram8217;s team will watch Saurav Ganguly return to the Sawai Man Singh Stadium 8212; without Sachin Tendulkar. And, more importantly, without Tendulkar8217;s imposing shadow looming over him.

Surely, with the World Cup around the corner, Monday8217;s Nagpur win was the best thing to have happened to Indian batting in a long time. The stakes there were no just a few meagre points in the Pepsi Cup tri-series. We might dare say the reputation of every Indian top order batsmen was on the line in that match.

Sooften have some brilliant performances by Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Robin Singh and others got submerged under the hype surrounding Tendulkar8217;s genius that an element of disenchantment was bound to creep in somewhere, sometime. Quite understabdable. How long will you watch your best efforts get no more than a few kind words and a couple of paragraphs the next day while the headlines scream those two magic words. Sachin Tendulkar. Of course, Tendulkar8217;s performance has always lived up to the hype but spare a thought for the rest. They even suffered the mortification of Pakistani skipper Wasim Akram smirking in print at Calcutta last month about how effective India was without Tendulkar.

Naturally, the fire was bound to break out some time and it happened at Nagpur. By taking of the Tendulkar image head-on, they also proved that there are other ways of handling the situation than sulking and shuffling around with drooping shoulders. It also works out into a perfect win-win situation for India with a healthybatting competition adding up to a pile of runs.

According to Anshuman Gaekwad, Tendulkar might still be back for the rest of this tournament and that means the Indian batting needs another injection of confidence. And, they will face a much bigger question mark this time because turning in to bowl from the other end will be Wasim Akram and Shoaib Akhtar. This time, a Tendulkar-less win will mean Indian batting would have passed the test once and for all.

However, the preparation here has not been what they would have liked it to be as Azharuddin8217;s men barely managed to catch some practice here after a tight haul from Nagpur. Stiff and sore from the Nagpur hangover, it remains to be seen whether a good night8217;s sleep will do the needful. On the other hand, the Pakistanis have been camping here for the last couple of days, and have settled down comfortably with coach Javed Mianded freaking out on what he calls the 8220;best paan8221; he8217;s had for some time.

Off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq8217;s absence, following aone-match suspension, is the only heartening news from the India point of view. Without sufficient tuning up time, India will also dread the prospect of Wasim Akram stomping in to complete that hat-trick after he dismised Marvan Atapattu and Pramodaya Wickremesinghe to wrap up the Lankan innings in Jamshedpur. The team compositions, as usual, are matters of National secrecy while a selection committee meeting tomorrow evening might spell out the broader picture for the rest of this series.But in all possibilities, S Ramesh, who had a good Test Series, may replace the out of form Ajay Jadeja.