India keen to maintain T20 supremacy over Oz
Friday, October 19, 2007 12:43 IST
MUMBAI: The first-ever Twenty20 International on Indian soil promises plenty of fireworks as Mahendra Singh Dhoni's world champions cross swords with Australia in what promises to be a humdinger at the Brabourne Stadium on.
Both teams have a lot to prove in the one-off contest that is expected to draw a full house at the flood-lit Cricket Club of India.
Dhoni and his teammates would be eager to show that their against-the-odds triumph in the inaugural World T20 championship in South Africa, including their semi-final win over 50-over champions Australia, was no flash in the pan.
But the visitors have put the rare defeat to India behind them and played some top-quality cricket to clinch the best-of-seven ODI series before floundering in the last tie at nearby Wankhede Stadium two days ago.
Their consolation two-wicket victory could be the perfect pep-up for India when they go into the contest on Saturday.
The entire ODI series has been played with a lot of verve and aggression by both sides but the alleged racial abuse that Man-of-the-Series Andrew Symonds was subjected to here and in Vadodara earlier has angered the visitors no end.
It will be Symonds and Matthew Hayden, the other scourge of Indian bowlers in the ODI series, who would have to be stopped in their tracks cheaply if the hosts want to repeat their glorious victory at Durban on September 22.
Symonds was out for a first-ball duck in the final ODI, while Hayden has not played in the last two games because of a hip injury but is expected to be fit for the T20 tie.
"I will be surprised if he (Hayden) does not play," Aussie captain Ricky Ponting said after his team's defeat in the last ODI. The Aussies, thus, will be at full strength.
India, on the other hand, would not have their trio of senior batsmen, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid, as well as pace spearhead Zaheer Khan to fall back on.
"We do not want such incidents to be repeated and bring a bad name to Mumbai as a cricket venue. The ICC may even impose a ban on Mumbai and blacklist it in the future," he said, adding that more than 100 officers with handy-cams will videotape and monitor the spectators right through the match.
The three-layered security system will 'try to identify mischievous spectators who pass rude comments against the cricketers," he explained.
The BCCI has said that while it does not have the right to arrest any erring spectator, it has the means to throw out misbehaving persons from the stadium.
BCCI Vice-President Lalit Modi has said there would be a two-level checking of tickets, which sport 'four distinctive features' to prevent fake ones from getting through.
The teams
India: MS Dhoni (Captain), Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa, Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, RP Singh, S Sreesanth, Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Kaartick, Ajit Agarkar, Joginder Sharma, Yusuf Pathan.
Australia: Ricky Ponting (Capt), Adam Gilchrist, Nathan Bracken, Stuart Clark, Michael Clarke, Matthew Hayden, Brad Haddin, Ben Hilfenhaus, Brad Hodge, Brad Hogg, James Hopes, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee and Andrew Symonds.
On-field Umpires: Suresh Shastri and Amish Saheba (Ind).
Third umpire: GA Pratap Kumar (Ind)
Match referee: Chris Broad (Eng).
The home team will be looking up to Virender Sehwag and fit-again Gautam Gambhir to fire them on in the initial stages for the likes of Yuvraj Singh, Dhoni, and Robin Uthappa to capitalise on later.
But Sehwag, Joginder Sharma and Yusuf Pathan could be rusty not having played serious cricket since the heady motorcade show arranged by BCCI to welcome home the T20 team more than three weeks ago.
The wicket at the stadium little used for top-level cricket is also an unknown commodity. The last time major cricket was played here eleven months ago, the wicket played tricks and industrial glue had to be used in a pioneering effort in this country to bind the easily breaking-up track.
Crowd control will also come sharply into focus in the light of what happened earlier this week in Mumbai and on October 8 at Vadodara when Symonds was targeted with 'monkey chants' and rude gestures.
The Mumbai police and the Cricket Board have promised tighter measures to curb racist abuses by spectators directed towards the players.
Police Commissoner DN Jadhav has warned that the International Cricket Council may imposed a ban on Mumbai, scheduled to host the 2011 World Cup final, unless the spectators behave themselves during the T20 contest and promised sterner security measures to prevent a repeat of the incidents at the Wankhede.
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