Cuttack: Comprehensively out-played by world champions Aus-tralia in Mumbai, India need to fireon all cylinders to bolster theirchances of reaching the final by pre-vailing upon a winless New Zealandin a day night encounter of the tri-angular cricket series here onThursday. New Zealand’s problemswere further compounded as ChrisCairns pulled out due to a hamstringinjury.

With Australia having already as-sured themselves of a place in the ti-tle round by gleaning 18 points fromfour matches, the Kiwis and thehosts are now in the race for makingit to Eden Gardens, venue for the fi-nal on November 18, though thehome side look superior on currentform.

India, culling eight points fromthree outings are in the second spot,while the Black Caps have only fourpoints in their kitty from threegames. Indian coach John Wrighthas indicated that left-arm-slowbowler Murali Karthik stood abright chance of making it to theplaying eleven as the spin partner ofoff-spinner Harbhajan Singh.“Karthik did a good job against theWest Indies, and he has always donewell given a chance,” Wright said.

On the positive side, the inclusionof seamer Ashish Nehra, sidelinedfor eight months since spraining hisankle at the World Cup in SouthAfrica earlier this year, has in-creased the pace op-tions for the Indianteam management.Nehra, who played avital role in takingIndia to the WorldCup final by claim-ing 15 wickets withhis magical ability toextract lateral move-ment both ways,seems impatient toreturn to on-field ac-tion. He has beenbowling his heart outin the nets to impress

the team think-tank.Spearhead Zaheer Khan succeed-

ed in the Gwalior tie against theAussies before being clobbered inMumbai; Ajit Agarkar's graph nose-dived at Gwalior before he sparkledin Mumbai. Thus, the pace line upfor the game might be interesting towatch. The performances of the topbatsmen in the two teams present a

study in contrast.The Indians hold adistinct advantagein the section, withtheir top order, saveVirender Sehwag,firing well in thetournament so far.

Sachin Ten-dulkar has led theIndian charge plun-dering 216 runs in-cluding a 100 atGwalior. A highlyimpressive averageof 108 has raised the

expectations of his teamamates andfans. The stylish VVS Laxman has ahundred against his name, stand-inskipper Rahul Dravid got a half cen-tury in Mumbai, while Yuvraj Singhplayed a useful cameo in Gwalior.

Sehwag's dismal show (31, 0, 0) hasstood out like a sore thumb for theIndians, and the attacking playerneeds to return among runs to si-lence his growing number of critics.The teams (from): India : Rahul Dravid (captain),Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, VVS Laxman, Yu-vraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Ajit Agarkar, Parthiv Pa-tel, Sairaj Bahutule, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan,Ashish Nehra, Hemang Badani, Murali Karthik.New Zealand : Stephen Fleming (captain), Lou Vin-cent, Craig McMillan, Chris Cairns, Chris Harris, JacobOram, Scott Styris, Brendon McCullum, Kyle Mills,Chris Nevin, Daryl Tuffey, Daniel Vettori, Ian Butler andPaul Hitchcock. Umpires: AV Jayaprakash (India) andN Mallender (England). Third umpire: I Shivaram.Fourth umpire: MS Mahal. PTI

CMYK

Wanted: Brilliance at BarabatiKiwis face depleted Indian attack in crucial tie; Nehra, Karthik likely to play

Gilchrist asks forlevel playing fieldNew Delhi: The Australianvice-captain, Adam Gilchristconcurred with the NewZealand captain, StephenFleming’s views on un-favourable conditions for thetwo visiting teams in the on-going tri-series and suggest-ed that the administratorsshould bring a level playingfield to One-day Internation-als.

Gilchrist while disagree-ing that the scheduling wasdone on purpose on the partof the BCCI, did agree withFleming that the toss playedtoo crucial a role in somematches. TNN

Ha l f - w a ythrough

the tourna-ment, Aus-tralia arepretty muchin the driver’s

seat in the Tri-series. Afterthe setback against India inthe first match, they havecome storming back to winall the other matches in acanter, which is how champi-on sides should play.

It can’t be very gratifyingfor India and New Zealand tonote that the Big Three in Aus-tralia’s line-up - Gilchrist,

Hayden and Ponting - have notyet come up with a truly sig-nificant knock. It is impossi-ble to keep players of suchquality quiet for too long,which means that there ismore trouble ahead for theother teams.

What has impressed memost about this Australianside is how well the secondstring bowlers have done, de-spite their relative inexperi-ence and very little time to

acclimatise to Indian condi-tions.

New Zealand are not yetout of this tournament, butneed a win or two to restoreself-belief and garner somemuch-needed points. In a way,New Zealand appear to havelost the momentum they hadgot during the Test series.

India need to get their actright. I think they are abowler short, and losingKumble before a crucial

match will not help theircause.

The wicket-keeping depart-ment is another area of con-cern. Much as I am favourablydisposed towards Parthiv Pa-tel, I would save him for theTests because he is obviouslyunder pressure. He is a classact, but still very young andperhaps needs to be groomedover a period of time. I knowthis is not in line with my ear-lier position, but winning thistournament should be ofparamount concern now.

I would instead have Dravidgo back to keeping, and Indiainclude a bowler who can bat,for runs low down the ordercan make a huge difference tothe outcome. TCM

MORE ON OUR WEBSITE

TVS Cup: India vs New ZealandLive Scorecard and Commentary

visit www.timesofindia.com

AFP

Captain Rahul Dravid warms up with a football at the Barabati Stadium inCuttack on Wednesday.

On problem areas: Themiddle-order batting is anarea that needs work. Wehave to do better while bat-ting second. We have toconcentrate on excelling inall departments againstNew Zealand, who arequality opposition. I don'tknow of any plans tochange the batting order.But we have to be as flexi-ble as possible. On India's bowling:New Zealand bat deep. Wetoo have good batsmendown the order though theymay not have lived up toexpectations. Our bowlerstoo are capable of doingbetter, particularly ZaheerKhan. I think he has gottenover that opening over ofthe World Cup final againstAustralia. But he too willadmit that he is capable ofdoing better, especially inthe opening overs. He didwell in Gwalior but some-thing went wrong in Mum-bai. He is working hard andshould do better in the first15 overs. On Parthiv Patel: It isimportant to have a spe-cialist wicket-keeper likeParthiv. I don't mind fittinginto the role on odd days. On captaincy: It's ahard job, I have done it onlyfor a few games. And it isnot for me to pass judge-ment on my own perform-ance. On Sehwag's poorform: I am not perturbed.He is a quality player and ishitting the ball well at thenets. On Murali Karthik: Isee a definite role for him.He has been in and out ofthe Indian team for sometime now.

RAHUL DRAVID: THECAPTAIN’S TAKE

The Times of India, New Delhi, Thursday, November 6, 2003

Leonard set for World cap recordJason Leonard will equal international rugby's world cap recordwhen he lines up for England against Wales on Sunday. TheHarlequins prop has forced himself into Clive Woodward'sWorld Cup quarter-finals starting XV, above Gloucester loose-head Trevor Woodman. It will be Leonard's 111th cap, puttinghim alongside Frenchman Philippe Sella

Joe may step up in weight Joe Calzaghe says he is considering moving upto fight in the light-heavyweight division. Theunbeaten Welshman said: "The older you get, thebigger you get and the harder it is to make thesuper-middleweight division. Joe has reignedsupreme at 168lb since October 1997

Lazio coach apologisesLazio coach Roberto Mancini apologisedfor Sinisa Mihajlovic's behaviour after thedefender spat at Chelsea striker AdrianMutu. The incident happened in thefirst half of Chelsea's ChampionsLeague 4-0 win at the Stadio Olimpico

Chelsea, Man United post big victories in Champions League

India, Pakistan in same pool: Af-ter a series of high-voltage exchanges,India and arch rivals Pakistan will havea fresh round of tussle for hockey su-premacy in March next year, havingbeing drawn in the same pool for theOlympic qualifiers to be held inMadrid. India and Pakistan have beenclubbed in the relatively easy Pool Bwhich has Malaysia, New Zealand,Belgium and Canada as the otherteams for the March 2-13 event.

Setbacks for India: Team India(Open category for Bermuda Bowl) isfacing serious crisis in early stages ofthe World Bridge Championshipwhich began at Monte Carlo on Mon-day. After having accumulated 60VPs from the first four matches of the22-team round robin, India weremauled by Spain 91-8 .

ICC backs WI organisation: International Cricket Council (ICC)chief executive Malcolm Speed saidhe has every confidence in the WestIndies' ability to host the 2007 WorldCup and hit out at reports that Aus-tralia has been lined-up as an alter-native should the tournament be un-able to be staged in the Caribbean.

Subrato Guha dead: Former Indiaand Bengal fast bowler Subrato Guhadied of a massive heart attack at hisresidence in Mumbai on Wednesday.He was 56. Guha played in four Testmatches between 1967-69 and tookjust three wickets scoring 17 runs andtaking two catches. He made his in-ternational debut against England atLeeds in 1967. He was very success-ful playing for Bengal.

Gaddafi son fails dope test: Al-Saadi Gaddafi, the son of Libyanleader Colonel Muammar Gaddafiwho plays for Serie A side Perugia,has tested positive for norandros-terone, Italian sporting authorities in-formed on Wednesday.

Ajit Ninan

SPORTS DIGEST

It is not for me to pass judge-ment on my own performance.

- Rahul Dravid on captaincy

TODAY’S ACTION

BETTING METER

NATIONALCRICKET: India vs New Zealand, Tri-seriesODI, Cuttack (Live on DD Sports, 2.15 pm)FOOTBALL: Durand Cup, New DelhiGOLF: Hero Honda Masters, New Delhi

INTERNATIONALCRICKET: India vs Sri Lanka, Final, Asian u-19, Lahore (Live on Ten Sports, 9.30 am);Zimbabwe vs West Indies 1st Test, Day 3,(Live on ESPN, 1.25 pm).FOOTBALL: UEFA Cup.TENNIS: WTA Championship, Los Angeles.

CRICKETTri-series ODI, Cuttack

India 1/2, New Zealand 6/4 as per ladbrokes.com

SQUASH RANKINGSMen

Rank Player Points1 Peter Nicol (Eng) 7615 2 John White (Sco) 6576.253 David Palmer (Aus) 6142.54 Jonathon Power (Can) 4558.755 Thierry Lincou (Fra) 4508.756 Anthony Ricketts (Aus) 3453.757 Ong Beng Hee (Mas) 2756.258 Karim Darwish (Egy) 26509 Stewart Boswell (Aus) 260010 Lee Beachill (Eng) 2212.5

psa-squash.com

Dravid must keep to improve balance

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TWO defeatsagainst Aus-tralia in thelast one weekmeans thatwe will haveto win all ourgames from

now on if we are to stay alivein the TVS Cup. We havebeen in similar situations inthe past, and I have alwaysseen that as a team, we playour best cricket in such des-perate situations. We knowthat we are capable of beat-ing both India and Australiaif we play well. It's just aquestion of raising the levelof our game from where it isright now to where it canreach when we play our bestcricket.

It's a relief to be involvedin a day-night game today, es-pecially after having to batfirst in both the games thatstarted at 9 am. Coming fromNew Zealand, I am hardly in

a position to complain aboutseaming wickets. However,back home the wickets seamconsistently for 100 overs. InFaridabad and Pune, thewicket was hard to bat ononly for the first 90 minutesafter which it became prettyeasy to negotiate.

All this is not to say thatwe did not have our chancesin the Pune game. JacobOram was outstanding latein the innings, and his knockensured that we were in witha chance, having posted 250-plus. Gameplan

We play our best indesperate situations

LEADING EDGEStephen Fleming

ALLROUND VIEWRavi Shastri

Australian cricketers react as actress Mandira Bedi bats during a media sessionwith the team in New Delhi on Wednesday

AP

Streak puts Zimbabwe on top

Kolkata: Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly, regain-ing strength after a painful abscess on the leftthigh, on Wednesday said he was keen to play theNovember 12 tri-series match against Australia inBangalore. Ganguly, who had an hour-long sessionat the gymnasium at the Pankaj Gupta indoorcoaching centre of the Cricket Association of Ben-gal, said “I am keen to play the November 12 match.I still have some weakness in the muscles, but noth-ing else”. Accompanied by senior national selectorPranab Roy, Ganguly also had some catching prac-tice and knocking at the net following light exerciseat the gymnasium. The dashing southpaw, whostarted training on Tuesday, has been cleared forthe November 12 match by the six-member medicalboard. “We have advised him physiotherapyandhe’s recovering fast,” Dr Mrinmoy Nandy, memberof the medical board, said.PTI

Harare: Heath Streak scoredhis maiden test century to putZimbabwe on top on the sec-ond day of the first Testagainst West Indies onWednesday. The home side,who won the toss and chose tobat, declared their first in-nings closed on 507 for nine.West Indies were 11 withoutloss when bad light and rainended play 25.2 overs early.

Zimbabwe captain Streakscored an undefeated 127 inalmost six hours at the creasein which he faced 246 ballsand hit 12 fours.

Streak and Andy Blignaut,whose 91 was a run short ofhis career-best score, shared a

partnership of 168, a recordfor Zimbabwe's eighth wicket.SCOREBOARD: Zimbabwe 1st innings(overnight 284-6): V. Sibanda c Jacobs b Ed-wards 18, T. Gripper c Lara b Taylor 41, M.Vermeulen c Hinds b Edwards 8, S. Carlisle cLara b Collymore 8, C. Wishart c Jacobs bHinds 47, S. Matsikenyere c Jacobs b Ed-wards 57, T. Taibu b Edwards 83, H. Streaknot out 127, A. Blignaut c Gayle b Drakes 91,R. Price lbw b Edwards 2, N. Mahwire not out1 Extras (b1, lb5, nb15, w3) 24 Total (for 9wkts decl.) 507; Fall: 1-26, 2-35, 3-58, 4-112, 5-154, 6-233, 7-314, 8-482, 9-495Bowling: Edwards 34.3-3-133-5 (nb5, w2),Collymore 29-6-131-1 (nb5), Hinds 15-6-40-1 (w1), Drakes 34-4-85-0 (nb5), Taylor 9.4-4-32-1, Gayle 19.2-6-38-0, Sarwan 9-0-35-0,Chanderpaul 1-0-7-0, Ganga 1-1-0-0 Overs:152.3 West Indies, 1st innings: C Gayle batting 6,W Hinds batting 0,Extras: (b-4, w-1) 5Total (for no loss, 2.4 overs) 11Bowling: Blignaut 1.4-0-7-0 (1w), Streak 1-1-0-0. Reuters

Ganguly recovering fast,keen to play in Bangalore