Aussies get fresh boost

Ponting and Bracken set to come in for 3rd ODI

HYDERABAD: It is being the month of Ramzan, the special in most hotels in the city is the mutton dish Haleem. The Hyderabad Haleem is known to have a special flavour and there are quite a few in the Indian team who are partial to the dish. After the team’s arrival on Wednesday, the players, including Sachin Tendulkar, were treated to the Ramzan fare at the team hotel.

The Haleem one hopes, has given Mahendra Singh Dhoni & Co, the much-needed energy for they have a Herculean task on hand. Down 0-1 in the series, which could easily have been 0-2 but for a washout in Bangalore, the Indians have their backs to the wall. 

The uphill task is not only because Ricky Ponting, the best batsman in the world, would be back in the ranks of the Australian team but also because of the ground realities of the Uppal Stadium. Just one international match old, the sprawling brand new complex, must have brought instant cheer to Brett Lee & co.

With a greenish cover, the pitch has the ferocious reputation of being one of the fastest wickets in the world. The locals even claim that it is second only to the Waca in Perth as far as bounce goes. The fact that not a single 250-plus score was amassed in the last five domestic one-day matches at the stadium provides credence to the claim.

The only team, for the record, to have crossed the mark was South Africa two years ago. Then, Graeme Smith & Co had knocked off India’s 249 to win the first ODI ever played here. India were 35 for 5 by twelfth over in that match.

Curator Gopal says the wicket would provide bounce but run-making should not be difficult if the batsmen apply themselves. He would not, however, hazard a guess as to what would be a defendable score.

The Australian pace battery, led by Lee, has been reinforced by the arrival of Nathan Bracken. The left-arm pacer, who missed the first two ODIs, joined the team in Hyderabad on Wednesday to add more muscle to their pace. And then of course there is the imminent return of Ponting into the visitors’ playing XI. The Australian skipper said he was 99.99%  sure of playing on the morrow. 

The Indian batting too is likely to get a boost with the certain return of Sourav Ganguly. The former captain, said cricket manager Lalchand Rajput, is sure to be included in the XI.

“We’ll field our best XI,” Yuvraj - the only batsman to have scored a century at the ground - said virtually endorsing Rajput’s point. He would not divulge details but hinted that the much-talked about rotation policy would not be implemented for Friday’s match. The Indian vice-captain, who addressed the media on Thursday, however, refused to divulge the precise XI or even XII.

India are expected to bring in RP Singh in place of one of the two spinners — Harbhajan Singh or Ramesh Powar — into the XI. Gautam Gambhir well may make way for Ganguly.