National Coach
Listen to Dav Whatmore
| Dav Whatmore National Coach |
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Listen to Dav Whatmore
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After our disappointing exit from the ICC KnockOut Trophy we are fortunate to have an opportunity so soon to put right the things that we didn?t do in Nairobi. We have had a few days rest and are now looking forward to getting back to winning ways In Sharjah.
There were some painful lessons learnt in Kenya. These revolved around our ability to fight through difficult times. This is uppermost in our minds at the moment, particularly with our batting. On its day, the batting is devastating, however, when things don?t go so well, we need to understand the situation and play accordingly. Momentum will not always flow your way. Sometimes you need to work really hard to turn the momentum back in your direction.
There is no doubt that we face a tough challenge in this tournament. We will be playing a rejuvenated Indian team and a tenacious Zimbabwean team, who appear to have bounced back from the loss of two key players.
India deserved to have reached the final of the KnockOut. They played some exhilarating cricket and look to have developed a strong all-round team. They have some flamboyant batsmen, a fairly steady bowling attack, and a greater vitality in the field.
However, in recent times, India have been inconsistent. On some days they are unbeatable, but on others, they can be disappointing. On the bad days they appear to lack self-belief, there are errors in their field and the bowlers are unable to keep the pressure on the opposition.
The Indian side now appears to have changed. The stars continue to perform, but they have been joined by some youngsters, who are showing that they can absorb the extra level of pressure and perform at the highest level. I was particularly surprised by the quality of their ground fielding and catching.
For me, the catalyst has been Yuvraj Singh. Early in the tournament, he played a terrific innings against Australia, and showed the way to the other Indian batsmen. He looked technically sound too. Its early days, but he has shown that he has the confidence play his natural game.
Zaheer Khan has also been a revelation. He is deceptive in pace and can bowl up in the high eighties. He is quicker than Srinath and all the recent Indian bowers. In one-day cricket his fast yorker is a great ball to possess. If he gets his rhythm right then he is bound to trouble even the best batsmen.
Together with Ajit Agarkar, who swings the ball, and Prasad, who has a lot of experience, you have a capable medium pace attack that is able to bowl tightly and keep the pressure on the batsmen. Additionally, there is the ever reliable, Anil Kumble, who is difficult to hit in any form of the game. With their new medium pace attack Kumble shouldn?t have to bowl so often in the first fifteen overs. He can look to attack and exploit the pressure created by those before him, rather having to bowl negatively in an attempt to stem the flow of runs.
Kumble is special because he is able to impart so many revolutions on to the ball. This means he extracts extra bounce from a reasonable length. He may not spin the ball a great deal, but his accuracy is deadly and the ball is on to you in a flash. Most batsmen now try to treat him as a medium pace in-swing bowler and don?t play for the spin.
Ganguly, as captain, looks to be enjoying the responsibility and his output of runs suggests that the captaincy is not a burden to him. Crucially, Ganguly has lightened the burden on Sachin Tendulkar. When Sachin goes out to bat he longer feels that the weight of the team is on his shoulders. He has been given the freedom to express himself and play his natural game. We haven?t seen the best out of him recently, so if he comes off in Sharjah, it?s going to be very difficult!
When bowling to the likes of Ganguly and Tendulkar you have to try and restrict them as much as possible. When the chance comes you have to grab it. If you don?t take chances against players of their caliber, then they will make you pay. We will back ourselves to try and frustrate them and then snaffle any half chance they offer us. The bowlers have to remain focused throughout, disregard the fact that Sachin or Ganguly are playing some unorthodox strokes, and stick rigidly to the original game plan.
Though there is no doubt that they have a great top three, if we can knock a couple back early on, we should be able to put some real pressure on the middle order. If we can, it will be interesting to see how they react, because, so far, there has not been a great deal of pressure on them.
However, I am wary of the danger that, having taken a couple of early wickets, the team could sit back and relax. When we get on top we have to make sure that we ram home the advantage and never let up till the end.
Whilst India poses us the greatest threat, we have to be on guard when we play Zimbabwe. They were given a good thrashing in the test matches against New Zealand recently, but they came back in the one-day series. They are not pushovers. In fact, they are similar to the likes of New Zealand and play a steady, workmanlike game.
Sharjah will present different challenges to the ICC KnockOut. Both the format, which allows you to have mishap along the way, and the conditions are dissimilar. The pitch tends to be batsmen friendly, but will be slower in pace to Nairobi. The boundaries, especially the straight ones, are longer and we can less boundaries. The running between the wickets and the quality of the out-fielding, departments in which we usually excel, could be crucial.
There is no doubt that the next ten days are very important for us. We have a young and talented side, who have performed excellently in the one-day format of the game in recent times, but we need to make amends for the disappointing performance in Nairobi. The players are still smarting from their early exit and are keen to put right, what went wrong. The time for talking is now over, and we have to speak through our performance on the field.
© CricInfo
| Teams | India, Sri Lanka. |
| Players/Umpires | Zaheer Khan, Ajit Agarkar, Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh. |
| Tournaments | Coca-Cola Champions Trophy |
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Results - Forthcoming Desktop Scoreboard |
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