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| October 14, 2006 | Saturday | Ramazan 20, 1427 |
India’s pride at stake against confident England
JAIPUR, Oct 13: India hope to end a recent dismal run in one-day internationals when they open their Champions Trophy campaign against a confident England here on Sunday.
Rahul Dravid's Indians suffered a 4-1 defeat in the West Indies in May and won just one of their four matches in a triangular series in Kuala Lumpur last month, leaving their fans wondering when the slump would end.
Nothing seems to have gone right for India in recent months despite their innovative training methods, experiments in the batting order and the presence of exciting stroke-makers.
India's reputation is at stake against Andrew Flintoff's England because an unimpressive show at home will be hard to swallow by their fans.
They always look a different side in their own backyard as they have not lost a one-day series in more than a year. They beat Sri Lanka 6-1, England 5-1 and drew 2-2 with South Africa.
Dravid said poor form of key players was one of the reasons for the team's disappointing performances of late.
“There has been a bit of a dip over the last couple of months because of this,” he said ahead of the main competition. Earlier, we had a slew of match-winners who were performing together. In the last six-seven games, there has been some pressure because everyone has gone through a lean patch.
“We need them to come back (into form) and I think when they do that, we will be okay.”India expect free-stroking batsman Virender Sehwag and left-arm seamer Irfan Pathan to regain form. Sehwag has contributed just 28 in his last four matches, while Pathan has looked below his best in recent games.
Good news is batting star Sachin Tendulkar's triumphant return to international cricket after a long lay-off due to a shoulder injury: he hit a hundred and a half-century at Kuala Lumpur.
England are keen to give a good account of themselves before the Ashes series, beginning in Australia next month.
“We don't fear anything. We go out to express ourselves. We are confident and believe we can beat anyone,” Flintoff said ahead of the group matches.
Flintoff, coming off an ankle injury, was instrumental in his team's squaring a three-Test series in India early this year by scoring 264 runs and taking 11 wickets.
His team then were also without key players - Michael Vaughan, Marcus Trescothick, Simon Jones and Ashley Giles - but he led from the front to dent India's Test pride.
England may have won just two of their last 10 one-day internationals, but Flintoff said his team now had the depth.
“We are quite fortunate to have three all-rounders in Paul Collingwood, Michael Yardy and Jamie Dalrymple. They all bat well and bowl their overs. We also have Rikki Clarke. It gives us a lot of depth,” he said.
The England captain said he was not sure when he would start bowling in the tournament.
England are in Group A with world champions Australia, India and a qualifier (either Sri Lanka or the West Indies). Each team will play three matches before the top two advance to the semi-finals.—AFP
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