Premium
This is an archive article published on February 9, 2008

Test of character for Team India

With their two matches being abandoned due to rain, Dhoni and his young brigade will need to pull up their socks against Oz.

.

It will be a test of character for a young Indian team when it takes on World Champions Australia in a cricket tri-series ODI on Sunday with the form of some of the middle order batsmen being a concern.

With their first two matches being abandoned due to rain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his young brigade will need to pull up their socks against the hosts, who will be high on confidence after their resounding 128-run victory over Sri Lanka on Friday.

While the Indian pacemen have given a good account of themselves the batting has not shown the desired consistency in the two rain affected games.

Story continues below this ad

ODI specialist Yuvraj Singh has been going through a lean patch since the Test series while the form of some of the other younger batsmen like Rohit Sharma and Robin Uthappa, who joined the team for one-day team, has also been worrying factor.

The focus will again be on the youngsters who have replaced stalwarts like Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly in the team. Another batting failure would no doubt put enormous pressure on them.

The Indians will look for a flying start from the in-form Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag for the team to post a good total on the board on a slow Melbourne Cricket Ground track.

The Australians, on the other hand, have a settled batting line up and the return of Matthew Hayden, who invariably reserves his best against the Indians, has only strengthened the line-up.

Latest Comment
Post Comment
Read Comments
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement