Struggling India pray for miracle

Wary of aggravating the injury to his right ankle ahead of the World Cup, Sachin Tendulkar will miss India’s fourth one-day international against New Zealand here tomorrow and, possibly, also the fifth in Wellington on January 8. Tendulkar, who did not play in the first three one-dayers also after he sprained his right ankle during net practice, is in the midst of his longest absence from the one-day circuit, having already missed 10 games on a trot. A hamstring injury had kept him out of the seven-match series against West Indies at home before coming to New Zealand. “Batting in the middle is not a problem,” said Tendulkar who is recovering from his injury. “But there is a question of running between the wickets… Not only for your runs but for the your partner’s as well.”

‘It’s the pitch, pace or bounce is no problem’

Admitting that he was probably going through the toughest time of his career, a struggling Indian captain Saurav Ganguly today stressed that his batsmen were not afraid of pace or bounce but claimed the nature of wickets in New Zealand was preventing them from scoring runs. “We don’t mind bounce, pace or movement. But if you can also play your shots, there is a fair chance to score runs as well,” said Ganguly. “Here the ball is not coming on to the bat. Thus making shots is difficult. Its more of a spongy type where the ball doesn’t come on to the bat and executing shots is not easy. I can’t remember a good cover drive or a cut in this whole series,” Ganguly said. “This is the most testing moment of my career, no doubt about that,” he said. (PTI)