The Coca-Cola Cup tournament in Zimbabwe has managed quite comfortably to make a fair number of people reconsider their opinions. Before the tri-series began, the hosts were seen to be, if not the outright favourites, at least the safest bet of the three sides. India's confidence had taken a beating in the recently concluded Test series against Zimbabwe and West Indies minus Brian Lara were a less than formidable side. Or so it seemed. With just one match to go before the India-West Indies final, the tournament is already over for the home team, who had the mortification of losing all four games they played.

Then again, this tournament has hardly gone according to script, with the scenario itself constantly changing and reinventing itself. A look at the schedule is the best place to start. Zimbabwe and India played each other twice, before the latter had a single game against the West Indies. With India winning both their clashes against Zimbabwe, and West Indies beating Zimbabwe in their first encounter, the men from the subcontinent were virtually through to the final without playing against the West Indies!

The second aspect that put a dampener on the tournament was the withdrawal of Messrs Lara and Andy Flower. A recurring hamstring injury meant that Lara would fly back to the West Indies without playing a match in the tournament. Flower, on whom all Zimbabwe's hopes rested, pulled out before the first limited overs game, citing an injury to his thumb. The Zimbabwean top order bat and stumper was to undergo a surgery around the same time when the tournament got under way. With two of the biggest guns in India's opposition ruled out, the balance shifted a bit. But surely no one expected India to enter the final with such ease.

The Indians for their part have reached the final in effective, but somewhat unspectacular fashion. Batting second after consistently winning the toss, India have had smallish totals to chase: 134 against Zimbabwe at Harare, 235 against Zimbabwe again, at Bulawayo and 170 against West Indies at Bulawayo. Perhaps that contributed to the fact there was no centurion, or for that matter a bowler who took five wickets in an innings. Zaheer Khan with 4-42 got closest to the mark, while fans had to make do with Sourav Ganguly's 85 against Zimbabwe at Bulawayo for the highest score by an Indian. The saving grace however, was that the innings spoken about signaled the return to form of the Indian captain.

If India had anything to be a bit worried about in their undefeated march to the final, it was the form of a couple of youngsters seemingly earmarked for higher honours, Dinesh Mongia and Virender Sehwag. Mongia, selected ahead of statemate Yuvraj Singh on the basis of his consistent performances in the domestic circuit eked out just 45 runs from two innings, including one innings of 37. Coming in to bat in situations ideally suited to his form of batting chasing low totals against opposition attacks without any big guns, Mongia disappointed. Enigmatic Delhi all-rounder Sehwag too flattered to deceive. Coming in to bat with the score on 187/4 chasing 238, Sehwag had an ideal opportunity to knock up an unbeaten 20-30 odd runs and force the pace. Presented with the opportunity, Sehwag failed to grab it with both hands.

Then again this is not the time to be overly critical. The only reason one is nudged to think along these lines is the refreshingly different approach of another youngster trying to make a name for himself - Hemang Badani. Helping himself to an unbeaten half century in India's opening game of the series, the southpaw took every opportunity to stay at the wicket and make a few runs. Never impetuous or rushing into his innings, Badani failed only in the second encounter against Zimbabwe where he was dismissed first ball by Grant Flower.

The other aspect the Indian selectors can take heart in is the performance of the quicker bowlers. In the absence of the experienced Javagal Srinath, Ashish Nehra, Zaheer Khan, Ajit Agarkar, Harvinder Singh and Debashish Mohanty all discharged their responsibilities extremely well. Taking full advantage of the moisture in the wicket early on the seamers accounted for 19 wickets between them. Mohanty, not seen as much more than a tourist on this trip, snapped up 3/18 off 10 overs in the first game he got. Will the Indian captain be tempted to give him another go in this tournament? If he does, it will have to be at the expense of either Ajit Agarkar or Harbhajan Singh, as the two left-armers have done enough to hold their places.

With just a rehearsal of the final to go before the big event, John Wright should be quite content with the way the Indian machine is motoring along. Some fine tuning might happen, but a major change in approach is unlikely.

© CricInfo