Speed Merchants lined up against Indians
The Indians would face their first real test of strength when they take on a battery of fast bowlers in the match against South Africa 'A' in Johannesburg on Wednesday.
With almost all the Indian batsmen getting a decent hit in the carnival match against Nicky Oppenheimer XI at Randjesfontein on Monday, the visitors would obviously be in a positive frame of mind.
Wednesday's game would give the Indians an opportunity to test their skills on a fast and bouncy turf against some quality fast bowling of up-and-coming South African stars. Even with the late withdrawal of Eastern Province's Mfuneko Ngam, the band of Northern's captain Gerald Dros, Jon Kent, Boland swing bowler Charl Langeveld and international reject Roger Telemachus is expected to scrutinise Indian batsmen closely.
Having already seen Mornantu Hayward, Albie Morkel and Garnett Krugger in yesterday's match, the Indians would thus have seen almost the entire crop of South Africa reserve pace talent ahead of the triangular one-day series starting on Friday.
For the Indians, the inclusion of Shiv Sunder Das in the one-day squad should be a healthy proposition. The diminutive Orissa youngster played a fine innings of 59 yesterday before retiring and it is a tribute to his relentless quest for improvement that he has eased into the one-day format too.
Another good knock tomorrow could see him making his one-day debut in the tri-series.
It was nice to see every Indian batsman having a profitable stay in the middle yesterday. Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, two of the most successful Indian batsmen on South Africa pitches, helped themselves to good scores and even captain Saurav Ganguly, who has been woefully short of runs for some time, timed the ball well in his 34-run knock.
The Indian bowlers, who went for a hammering on the batsmen friendly track yesterday, would get a more helpful pitch tomorrow and they would surely like to get into a rhythm before the one-dayers.
Anil Kumble yesterday showed the long lay-off from international cricket had not rusted his talent at all and the exciting prospect of his bowling in tandem with off-spinner Harbhajan Singh might be opted for tomorrow.
The hosts have suffered a setback with the pull-out of Ngam who made his debut against New Zealand last year. He had a shoulder surgery earlier this year and was wrapped in the proverbial cotton wool ever since.
Ngam bowls with great pace, on ocassions clocking 150 kmph, and also has the ability to swing the ball both ways. It is understood that Ngam, who has fought his way back from leg and back stress fractures, and a damaged shoulder in recent years, was included in tomorrow's team by the national selectors without sufficient consultation with the medical team supervising his rehabilitation.
South African national squad physiotherapist Craig Smith would not confirm this, but said he was keen that Ngam should play a few four-day games for his province before returning to the top level.
Mail Cricket Editor
