Wright hopes for top order to fire

‘‘The first 15 overs are critical. We didn’t play the first 15 overs as well as we could have,’’ remarked Wright as he took the side to Utrecht for an unscheduled practice session on Thursday morning.

India’s practice session was brought forward in the neighbouring city of Amsterdam as the Pakistanis cooled their heels, frustrated by the non-arrival of their kit.

But for Wright and his wards there was no time to lose as they look to maximise the teams potential in the coming tournament. ‘‘As I said, the first 15 overs are critical. But we have guys like Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman, and generally when they explode there is no problem with the scoring rate,’’ said Wright.

The Indians were never able to get a good start in the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka last month as Sehwag failed in all but one game while Tendulkar, despite his three half centuries, wasn’t quite at his best. To compound problems, VVS Laxman was down with a knee bruise in all but two games.

Wright is counting on his batsmen to provide a good start and then build partnerships between them so that the final assault is carried out in the last 10 overs. ‘‘For any side to have wickets in the final 10 overs is important. If anything, we now have more depth in the batting with Agarkar back and Irfan showing promise,’’ he said.

The New Zealander conceded that though flexibility is important in one-day cricket, it doesn’t imply that the team needs to shuffle its batting order to maximise its potential. ‘‘There are certain positions we would like to keep pretty stable. Especially when it comes to partnerships. Besides, we have got players who can be flexible according to situation,’’ commented Wright.

Nehra, Harbhajan down with viral fever

The Indians are facing a major fitness crisis ahead of the tri-series against world champions Australia and Pakistan as two of their frontline bowlers were down with viral fever. Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh and left-arm medium-pacer Ashish Nehra are down with viral fever and could not accompany the team to the practice session at Utrecht this morning.

“Ashish is particularly bad and he is completely laid up in the bad,” remarked physio Andrew Leipus.

“I am completely bereft of any strength in my frame,” commented Harbhajan. “Its difficult to even be on my legs.”

Leipus, however, was satisfied with the progress star batsman VVS Laxman has made on his bruised knee. “The swelling has subsided completely and VVS has recovered well,” said Leipus.

(PTI)