Right now, India playing better cricket

Yet, I think it would be a good idea if he considered dropping himself to number five and allowed Dravid to go higher up at number three against the Aussies. The Aussie pace attack is top class and the possibility of a wicket falling early is one that cannot be ruled out.

In such a scenario, I feel that the rock solid Dravid would do better coming higher up at number three to steady the ship.

Australia’s back-up bowlers are somewhat less than fearsome and, excellent player of spin and medium pace that Ganguly is, I feel that he could murder the later bowlers.

Perhaps the only concern for India is the state of Dravid’s hand. He did appear to have done his left hand some damage while keeping wickets in the semi-final and I was a bit perplexed to see him continuing, even when it was quite clear that the rest of the match was a matter of going through the motions and that only one result was possible.

Anyone could have been asked to don the gloves but the fact that this obvious move was not resorted to can, to my mind, only mean that the injury was not that serious. One hopes this assessment is true.

The top three Indian pacers have so far performed so well and made such deep inroads in their earlier spells that the pressure on the fifth bowler has not been there. But with a batting line-up like Australia’s that is not a situation that can be taken for granted.

However, one would understand the reluctance of the Indians to gamble with that change at the final stages of the World Cup; if that was being seriously contemplated, it should have been tried out in the later stage of the Super Sixes.

The Australians, on the other hand, had yet another batting blip in their semifinal against Sri Lanka, succeeding in getting only a very modest total; they would perhaps been bundled out for 170 or thereabouts had Sangakarra accepted a straightforward stumping off the bowling of Jayasuriya which would have dismissed Symonds when he was only 32.

Even with that miss, 212 was a getable score but it appeared as if the Sri Lankans were overawed at the prospect of beating the mighty Aussies. That is certainly not going to be the case with India which is a side playing with confidence. In fact, if I were to be asked who, at this point of the World Cup, is playing the best cricket, I would plump for India.

May the best side win.