BANGALORE: The city cannot wait, indeed nor can the teeming millions in India. Enough of this build-up, bring on the match they say.
The Indian team members, up to their necks with the many net sessions over the past week, couldn't agree more. As for the English, they would like to just get this game over and done with. After all this is not the Ashes, though by coming up with an innovation such as asking Kevin Pietersen to open, they have indicated that they do care somewhat about the World Cup, which they have never won.
The irony lies in that whichever way the result goes at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Sunday, neither team will get a burial. No doubt there will be psychological points to score, to carry forward even but then with the idea in the league stage being to move to the quarters and take it from there. The pressure is that much lesser.
It would make great sense if both sides try out their respective strengths and build on them to use in the bigger knockout game(s). If the Indian think tank is of the opinion that their best bet is three pacers and a lone specialist spinner, backed up by a host of slow men, then they should stick to it at this stage.
At the same time, having included a leg-spinner in the squad, a third spinner at that, this could also be the best time and place to put in practice the two pacers, two spinners theory. But it does not have to be the leggie who makes the final cut, if only because then Mahendra Singh Dhoni needs to have as many options as possible to use in the Powerplays and there R Ashwin, the off-spinner, has a clear edge.
And let's face it, Ashish Nehra may have taken six wickets the last time India played England in a World Cup game, but because of his recent form and suspect fitness, he cannot expect to simply walk in. Nor is S. Sreesanth your strength exactly, for had he been he would not have been a replacement. Either Chawla or Ashwin could be the answer then.
Andrew Strauss, on the other hand, would do well to stick to pace, ask his bowlers to add bounce to it, and have Graeme Swann as the lone spinner. There simply is no point in having a Mike Yardy come and bowl to the likes of Virender Sehwag (provided his rib has healed enough), Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh and Yusuf Pathan. That could hurt England's cause as also the spectators in the sure-to-be-packed stadium.
What could worry both teams is the rather difficult reading of the pitch as also anticipating the weather. It is a fact that the curator, who promises that runs are there for the taking, has got it right more times than the local weatherman, who has predicted some evening rain, but that will not be of too much solace for either captain. Both skippers have been clear in their thinking that team combinations, which depend on those very factors in a big way, will be decided only a little before the toss. When the English team left the ground, there was more grass on the surface than there was when the Indians came in for their session. On Sunday afternoon it will be a more level playing field, which is why neither captain is in any hurry to show his cards.
The Indian team members, up to their necks with the many net sessions over the past week, couldn't agree more. As for the English, they would like to just get this game over and done with. After all this is not the Ashes, though by coming up with an innovation such as asking Kevin Pietersen to open, they have indicated that they do care somewhat about the World Cup, which they have never won.
The irony lies in that whichever way the result goes at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Sunday, neither team will get a burial. No doubt there will be psychological points to score, to carry forward even but then with the idea in the league stage being to move to the quarters and take it from there. The pressure is that much lesser.
It would make great sense if both sides try out their respective strengths and build on them to use in the bigger knockout game(s). If the Indian think tank is of the opinion that their best bet is three pacers and a lone specialist spinner, backed up by a host of slow men, then they should stick to it at this stage.
At the same time, having included a leg-spinner in the squad, a third spinner at that, this could also be the best time and place to put in practice the two pacers, two spinners theory. But it does not have to be the leggie who makes the final cut, if only because then Mahendra Singh Dhoni needs to have as many options as possible to use in the Powerplays and there R Ashwin, the off-spinner, has a clear edge.
And let's face it, Ashish Nehra may have taken six wickets the last time India played England in a World Cup game, but because of his recent form and suspect fitness, he cannot expect to simply walk in. Nor is S. Sreesanth your strength exactly, for had he been he would not have been a replacement. Either Chawla or Ashwin could be the answer then.
Andrew Strauss, on the other hand, would do well to stick to pace, ask his bowlers to add bounce to it, and have Graeme Swann as the lone spinner. There simply is no point in having a Mike Yardy come and bowl to the likes of Virender Sehwag (provided his rib has healed enough), Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh and Yusuf Pathan. That could hurt England's cause as also the spectators in the sure-to-be-packed stadium.
What could worry both teams is the rather difficult reading of the pitch as also anticipating the weather. It is a fact that the curator, who promises that runs are there for the taking, has got it right more times than the local weatherman, who has predicted some evening rain, but that will not be of too much solace for either captain. Both skippers have been clear in their thinking that team combinations, which depend on those very factors in a big way, will be decided only a little before the toss. When the English team left the ground, there was more grass on the surface than there was when the Indians came in for their session. On Sunday afternoon it will be a more level playing field, which is why neither captain is in any hurry to show his cards.
