India in Zim
So the Indian team is off to Zimbabwe, and will reach a grand total of 1.5 days before their first match, against the Kiwis. Don’t expect anything spectacular, for there has been little time for things to change since Sri Lanka, and even less effort.
For Ganguly, this really is a no-win tour. Apparently he has been having as long as three hour net sessions in Kolkata to prepare for the tour. The thing is, what can he prove? Sure, if we win the tri-series there will be much assuaging of feelings, but that’s a big if. New Zealanad have been in Zimbabwe for a while, are always a challenging ODI side (to say the least), and India are continuing a seriously long and seriously lacklustre phase of form. Beating Zimbabwe is really not going to count for much (confidence-wise, form-wise or perception-wise).
In the Tests, its even worse. Nothing but the most comprehensive of wins in both Test matches can be viewed as acceptable. Who would possibly accept this Zimbabwe side taking a test to the 4th, or worse, 5th day? Win the series, and it’s no big deal- it is only 'this Zimbabwe side'. Win it by anything but huge margins, and you still 'don’t have the edge'. On a personal not, Ganguly could pile up whatever he wants in terms of runs in these two tests- it cannot make an iota of difference to the questions being asked about him holding a position in the Test squad. And God forbid he doesn’t rack em’ up- do we really see him continuing then? We are all going to still end up watching a fair bit of it, but I know which channel I will tune into when Flintoff steams in to Gilchrist and Taibu readies to face Pathan.
4 comments:
Actually, its more likely that Taibu would last a while against Pathan, than Gilchrist against Flintoff. So you can change channels later :-)
But more seriously, I do agree that Ganguly doesnt have much to gain. But still runs are runs, and remember that the Zim bowling isnt that bad(they have all their bowlers, with Blignaut also returning). Even Nz struggled once against them. So if Saurav can get runs, and more importantly stands out in the team, it still holds value.
And btw, we should not expect the Indian team to have a 3 day win against this Zim side. When Zim were better, we lost/drew matches. Now just expect us to win. I would be happy with victory in any number of days. I'm hoping its not a close win, thats all. Another reason for lowered expectation is that its a first test match in the new season and, as Nz also showed, it takes a while to warm up.
I know what you mean worma, but the increasingly large bunch of saurav detractors aren't going to be impressed any by rns scored against Zim, Streak or not. Frankly, even I will be lukewarm about them...
As for the wins, I don't expect us to crush them in 2 or three days, not at all. But the bloody perception will be that if NZ could do that to them why the hell can't we? And heck, a close win would have even me pained...
This gives me an idea to make Zimbabwe more competetive. Make teams fly long flights to Zim then play straight away with out any sleep and jetlag. If this doesn´t work we could make Zim´s opponents play without boots.
:), chris. or let them bowl with tennis balls
and look at that- NZ missed 400. bah.
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