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What does Ganguly have up his sleeve?
On the eve of the biggest match in its history, the Wanderers stadium wore a sombre look.
On the eve of the biggest match in its history, the Wanderers wore a sombre look. Watching the Indians and Australians do a light work-out in front of empty stands, it was almost impossible to believe that on Sunday, the ground would be teeming with life.
Weather permitting, Sunday evening will see either Sourav Ganguly or Ricky Ponting lift the World Cup.
History and the record books say it is advantage Australia. But form and logic do not always play true, especially when the stage happens to be this momentous and the contestants have as acrimonious a history.
Though there have been no bitter exchanges between the two skippers during this competition, cricket fans have not forgotten the caustic verbal duels and mind games between Ganguly and former Australian captain Steve Waugh during the historic 2001 Test series in India.
Against all odds, the world champions’ run of 16 Test wins came to an end at the Eden Gardens almost exactly two years ago. It was perhaps the first time that an Indian captain used subterfuge and non-cricketing tactics to compete with an opponent. Waugh and his team lost the series as much off the ground as they did on the pitch.
There may be few parallels here, except that Australia is unbeaten in 16 matches — this time around it is one-dayers though. But it is, like then, a match between a team that seems impossible to beat on paper and one that needs all departments in working order to have a chance of scripting a miracle.
The question is do Ganguly and his men have the firepower and mental strength to beat this Australian side? Ponting is no Waugh. He smiles more than his predecessor and seems to enjoy his conversation with the press, unlike the man he replaced. The new Australian captain is a difficult man to get
worked up.
“Does Ganguly wind you up the way he used to wind up Waugh?” he was asked. The answer was: “No, he does not. I hardly know him. I talked to him a bare 20 minutes before the start of the Cup.” And then came a huge grin. “Perhaps he will have something up his sleeve for tomorrow’s game,”
India will sincerely hope he does.
FINAL SCRAP
** Tendulkar: Has already scored 669 runs in this Cup. He’ll need to get going to give India a good chance
** McGrath: Has got 18 wickets in the competition. Australia depend on him to get the main man out
