Cricket

West Indies bowlers bowled their heart out and almost dominated the opening day of the first Test against India. In fact, if it was not for the valiant counter-attack worth 146 runs from Suresh Raina (84) and Harbhajan Singh (70), India would have ended the day on an extremely embarrassing note. Instead, the visitors managed to claim a wicket and keep Darren Sammy’s side 212 runs behind at close of play.

India did manage to win the toss but it was Ravi Rampaul who snared the openers early on to seize the early initiative. Murali Vijay (8) became his first victim while debutant Abhinav Mukund (11)was cleaned up soon after.  India’s top-order looked ill at ease as VVS Laxman (12) surrendered to Devendra Bishoo and Virat Kohli (4) edged one behind off Fidel Edwards. The break for lunch would not have left the Indians with much of an appetite with the score on 69 for 4.

Though Rahul Dravid did manage to add 40 runs to his Test statistics, it was ended abruptly by Bishoo with India now totering at 83 for 5. In walked skipper MS Dhoni and played all of a single delivery before he was sent back by Bishoo who now looked unforgiving.

It was now that Raina and Harbhajan got together and the duo looked edgy at first but soon settled in. Harbhajan raced to his half-century despite coming in after his partner and his eventual score of 70 came off just 74 deliveries.

Raina played the mature innings and helped himself to 82 runs off 115 deliveries but once Harbhajan departed, it was mayhem once again. India lost four of it’s remaining wickets for 16 runs as Edwards cleaned up the tail to finish with four wickets.

West Indies replied with a chase that would better be termed as painfully slow rather than watchful. Ishant Sharma  rose to the occasion with the ball and eventually got rid of a tentative Lendl Simmons (3). The other opener in Adrian Barath (26*) and Ramnaresh Sarwan (2*)  denied the Indian bowlers any further success and finished the day with the team score on 34, 212 still remaining before a lead can be mounted.

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One of the favourites for the trophy, Sri Lanka kickstart their World Cup campaign against minnows Canada, well aware that any slip-up could cause embarrassment at the hands of a side which would be eager to prove its worth at the biggest stage of cricket here on Sunday.

The two sides will face off at the new Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium in Hambantota, located in the south of the island nation.

There were serious concerns whether the construction at the venue would be ready on time but after missing the ICC deadline by more than two months, the organizers managed to complete the venue just ahead of the match.

Sri Lanka will miss the services of middle-order batsman Chamara Silva, who had to remain in Colombo to attend to a death in the family. Silva will rejoin the squad on Monday in Colombo.

Sri Lanka are one of the favourites to win the World Cup, but captain Kumar Sangakkara said he’s not looking too far ahead. Sangakkara said he prefers to take one game at a time.

“More than the last match (final), we need to do well in the first match which is tomorrow. That’s the most important thing. Our job is to try and win the first game more than try and win the tournament,” Sangakkara said.

“You can’t take Canada lightly. If you take the warm up game they played against England, they lost only by 16 runs. Every team raises the game when the World Cup comes and we need to raise our game and if we do that we can do well,” Sangakkara reminded.

The Sri Lankans will go into the game without knowing what the conditions will offer. None of their players have played at the venue, which has hosted two domestic games and another between Sri Lanka ‘A’ and Pakistan ‘A’.

“This is the second time we are coming here and when we see the ground, it looks nice. When I got down, I was surprised to see the progress they have made. We trained at the ground and there doesn’t seem to be any issues. We need to play well whatever the conditions that we get,” Sangakkara said.

The Sri Lankan captain who has played in two World Cup tournaments will be leading the side for the first time. “It’s a great privilege and an honour, not just to captain a World Cup team, but to captain this particular team. They are a wonderful bunch of guys and the best we have in Sri Lanka,” he said.

The hosts are likely to play two spinners with Ajantha Mendis partnering Muttiah Murlaitharan. Nuwan Kulasekara is likely to share the new ball with Lasith Malinga.

Canada, on the other hand, have played in three World Cups including the last two, but haven’t won a game since beating Bangladesh in the 2003 edition.

Their only previous World Cup game against Sri Lanka was in the same tournament in South Africa and it lasted just 140 deliveries as Canada were bowled out for 36 runs, the second lowest total in ODI cricket.

There’s a lot of Sri Lankan influence in the Canadian side as the team is coached by former Lankan wicketkeeper Pubudu Dassanayake.

Former opener Chandika Haturusinghe is the assistant coach of the side and he would have a fair knowledge about the opposition as he was an assistant coach of the Sri Lankan team until last year.

Ruvindu Gunasekara, who is a 19-year-old left-handed batsman, was born in Sri Lanka and played school cricket for St. Peter’s College in Colombo before migrating to Canada. “I think losing Haturusinghe is a big loss to Sri Lankan cricket. He’s one of the best coaches that I have worked with. Canada will benefit hugely by having him,” Sangakkara said.

The Teams (from):

Sri Lanka: Kumar Sangakkara (Captain), Mahela Jayawardene, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Upul Tharanga, Thilan Samaraweera, Chamara Silva, Chamara Kapugedera, Angelo Mathews, Thisara Perera, Nuwan Kulasekara, Lasith Malinga, Dilhara Fernando, Muttiah Muralitharan, Ajantha Mendis and Rangana Herath.

Canada: Ashish Bagai (Captain), Rizwan Cheema, Harvir Baidwan, Nitish Kumar, Hiral Patel, Tyson Gordon, Henry Osinde, John Davison, Ruvindu Gunasekera, Parth Desai, Karl Whatham, Khurram Chohan, Jimmy Hansra, Zubin Surkari and Balaji Rao.

Even though low on confidence after a losing spree in the run-up to the World Cup, New Zealand are unlikely to face any real threat from minnows Kenya when the two teams clash in their opening Group ‘A’ league match here tomorrow.

Under their newly-appointed coach John Wright, the Black Caps would be keen to regain confidence, having lost 14 of their last 17 One-day International matches, including 10 in the sub-continent that has exposed their inability to play on the turning wickets in this part of the world.

Since the Kiwis’ arrival here on February 10, they have been candid in admitting their weakness in coping with the sub-continent conditions, particularly against spin, which was evident in their collapse after a good start in a warm-up game against India that they lost by 117 runs.

On the eve of their opening match against Kenya, they seemed to be in a doubtful frame of mind, considering the remarks made by wicketkeeper-batsman Brendon McCullum yesterday that a confidence crisis is dogging the team after their meek surrender to Indian spin bowling.

And even though his teammate Martin Guptill expressed hope of the team bouncing back ahead of their first World Cup game, but there is little doubt that confidence in the Kiwi camp is at its lowest.

But all said and done, the New Zealanders, who have had mixed luck in practice games — winning against Ireland in the first game, only to be comprehensively beaten by the co-hosts India in the next — still start as favourites against the Kenyans tomorrow.

The tide is expected to turn in the Black Caps favour sooner than later with Wright, who was the coach of the Indian cricket team, having loads of experience in sub-continent conditions, working hard with team, besides bowling coach Alan Donald making significant contributions.

But the Kiwis have to be wary of the Kenyan side, which has caused a few upsets in the show-piece event in the past. The African nation shocked West Indies on their debut in the 1996 World Cup at Pune and then ran over Sri Lanka in 2003 on way to their lone semi-final appearance, thanks to the walk-over awarded after New Zealand refused to play in Nairobi, citing security concerns.

Since then, however, Kenyan cricket has been on a down slide, besieged by problems in domestic set-up. The present team, boosted by the return of veteran Steve Tikolo, won against Afghanistan and Ireland in Dubai, but lost to the Netherlands and West Indies in Colombo in both their warm-up ties.

Going by their strengths, Kenya’s realistic chance of registering a victory appears to be only against Canada in group stage but anything beyond that would be a bonus for them, considering defending champions Australia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe being the other teams in the group.

Ahead of tomorrow’s game, the Kiwis can take heart from the fact that their attacking batsmen — McCullum, Jesse Ryder, Ross Taylor and Guptill, whose 130 helped the team win the warm-up tie against Ireland in Nagpur — are all in form. But they would certainly have to work on their bowling if they want to go beyond the quarterfinals.

Their pace attack led by Kyle Mills, Jacob Oram and Tim Southee is a suspect against strokemakers on the sub-continent pitches, bringing to fore the void caused by the retirement of speedster Shane Bond.

The spin department also lacks the teeth, although it will be spearheaded by captain Daniel Vettori, who opted out of the warm-up match against India.

Newcomer Luke Woodcok and Nathan McCullum, whose availability for tomorrow’s match depends on his fitness, following his discharge from hospital after being under observation for two days with high temperature, also do not add much variety.

Kenya would be banking on the experience of 39-year-old all-rounder Tikolo and medium-pacer Thomas Odoyo, both of whom are playing in their fifth World Cup.

An exciting middle-order bat, Tikolo, who had scored 96 against Sri Lanka in 1996 and 93 against Australia, can also contribute to the team’s success as an effective slow bowler. The side has several youngsters, including opener Seren Waters, who sparkled with an unbeaten 126 against the Netherlands in the warm-up match, which they lost despite piling up 263.

As far as bowling department is concerned, the team has come well prepared for the sub-continent conditions, packing it with four spinners. Besides Tikolo, newly appointed captain James Kamande and Shem Ngoche would be their main strike bowlers.

Teams:

New Zealand: Daniel Vettori (capt), Hamish Bennett, James Franklin, Martin Guptill, Jamie How, Brendon McCullum (wk), Nathan McCullum, Kyle Mills, Jacob Oram, Jesse Ryder, Tim Southee, Scott Styris, Ross Taylor, Kane Williamson and Luke Woodcock.

Kenya: Jimmy Kamande (capt), Seren Waters, Alex Obanda, David Obuya, Collins Obuya, Steve Tikolo, Tamnay Mishra, Rakep Patel, Maurice Ouma, Thomas Odoyo, Nehemiah Odhiambo, Elijah Otieno, Peter Ongondo, Shem Ngoche, James Ngoche. Umpires: Rod Tucker and Marais Erasmus; Aleem Dar (third), Roshan Mahanama (Match Referee).

As a player who wears his heart on his sleeve, Harbhajan Singh brings with him that extra zing which often works superbly for his team but riles the opposition.

The gutsy bowler has worked his way up to stardom after starting as a nervous, fidgeting 18-year-old, and having to endure doubts over his talent and abilities.

He may lack the loop and flight of a traditional slow bowler, but it is no mean feat that Harbhajan has managed to become India’s most successful off-spinner in all three formats of the game.

With 246 wickets from 217 one-day internationals, the ‘Turbanator’ is a key cog in India’s wheel in the 50-over game.

His worth, though, should not be measured in terms of wickets or runs — because it is his fierce competitiveness that makes him the dangerous opponent that he is.

It also makes him the perfect team man to have when the chips are down, despite a string of unsavoury controversies, including the ‘Monkeygate’ and ‘Slapgate’ episodes.

His confrontation with Australian Andrew Symonds in 2008 led to one of the ugliest controversies in cricket — he was initially charged with a racial insult which was reduced to abuse on appeal.

Later that year, he was banned for 11 matches during the inaugural Indian Premier League season for slapping his India team-mate Shanthakumaran Sreesanth before the full glare of TV cameras.

He has since made up with Sreesanth and is set to share the dressing room with Symonds in the fourth season of the IPL, that comes close of the heels of the World Cup.

Harbhajan showed little pretension when asked what goals he had set for himself in this World Cup, given the huge role spinners are expected to play on low and slow wickets in the sub-continent.

“This is my third World Cup and I am more experienced now,” Harbhajan, 30, said.

“My target is to take wickets and bowl as the situation demands. There is no new ball that I will experiment with nor am I going to bowl any magic ball.

“The wickets will get slower as the tournament progresses. You have to have variation in your attack. You just need to be sure of what you are doing.”

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Title aspirants India will have revenge on their minds when they launch their 2011 Cricket World Cup campaign against co-hosts Bangladesh in the tournament-opener here on Saturday, fully aware that any slip-up could prove costly.

Minnows Bangladesh had ensured India’s early exit in the first round of the 2007 edition at the Caribbeans and Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his men will be eagar to settle the score and kick start their campaign on a positive note at the Sher-e-Bangla National stadium.

Tipped as one of the favourites, the current world number two side, boasts off an exceptionally balanced team, but such a pool of talented players will also pose a few selection questions for skipper Dhoni.

Dhoni though seems to have sorted out his problem of plenty in the batting department when he tipped Virat Kohli ahead of Suresh Raina after their second warm up match against New Zealand.

“The number four slot is very important for us. Right now it is a slot war. It is the number four slot where Kohli needs to bat with Gautam Gambhir at number three,” Dhoni said.

“Kohli is sort of a player who likes to spend little bit of time early and then go after the bowlers. Still, there is a bit of chance where Virat may get an edge over (Suresh) Raina seeing the current form he is in,” he added.

Dhoni also hinted that he would stand by Yuvraj Singh as his ability to spin the ball away makes him an asset to the team even though currently he is a bit short of runs.

“We are playing with four bowlers. A part-time spinner is really important especially if it is a left-arm away going spinner. That’s the one big advantage he (Yuvraj) has got over others,” Dhoni said.

The explosive batting line-up will be marshalled by Sachin Tendulkar, who would be participating in his sixth World Cup this time around and the senior batsmen will look to give India a flying start with Virender Sehwag.

Gautam Gambhir will be next, while the middle-order also looks rock solid with Kohli, Dhoni, Yuvraj and Yusuf Pathan – all capable of playing big-shots and also rotating the strike.

In their second and last warm up game, India scored a mammoth 360 against New Zealand and it will give a lot of confidence to the batsmen, especially skipper Dhoni and Gambhir, who hit an unbeaten 108 and 89 respectively.

Kohli and Raina also cracked half-centuries against New Zealand and Dhoni would be hoping his boys continue the good work.

In the bowling department, Dhoni will have to pick his options carefully since India is going with a four-pronged attack.

Indian spinners Harbhajan Singh and surprise inclusion Piyush Chawla have taken five and six wickets in the last two warm up games. Even R Ashwin and part-time spinner Yuvraj scalped two and three wickets respectively.

In contrast, the pacers have struggled with Ashish Nehra claiming two and Praveen Kumar’s replacement S Sreesanth taking one wicket, while Munaf Patel remaining wicketless in the warm up matches.

But with pace spearhead Zaheer Khan, who didn’t feature in the two warm up ties because of a minor niggle, returning to action on Saturday, a much better performance can be expected from the seamers.

Bangladesh, on the other hand, have so far been content with an odd upset and have been generally looked upon as underachievers but the tigers would look to shrug off that tag when they lock horns with India at home.

Though they have just five victories from 20 World Cup matches to show, Bangladesh has the distinction of beating Pakistan on debut during the 1999 edition and ousting India and defeating South Africa four years ago.

Skippered by Shakib-Al-Hasan, Bangladesh have a few good batsmen in talented Mohammad Ashraful, the pint-sized dynamic opener Tamim Iqbal and wicket-keeper Mushfiqur Rahim. Besides, captain Shakib-Al-Hasan, himself, ranks number one in the ICC’s all-rounders list and knows how to wield the willow.

Bangladesh won their first warm up match against Canada but lost to Pakistan in the second tie. However, their openers Tamim and Imrul Kayes have got runs under their belt in the two matches.

Though their pace attack will lack the fire-power of speedster Mashrafe Mortaza, 21-year-old pacer Rubel Hossain had claimed five wickets in the warm up matches.

Besides, Bangladesh also have some good tweakers in left-arm slow bowlers Shakib and Abdur Razzaq, who can get handy support from many other part-timers.

Bangladesh can also take heart from the fact that they came into the tournament after having made a clean sweep against New Zealand, a full-fledged test playing country and defeating Zimbabwe 3-1 at home, where they will play all their six league games.

TEAMS

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Captain/wicketkeeper), Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, S Sreesanth, Piyush Chawla, R Ashwin, Ashish Nehra.

Bangladesh: Shakib Al Hasan (Captain), Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Junaid Siddique, Shahriar Nafees, Raqibul Hasan, Mohammad Ashraful, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Naeem Islam, Mahmudullah, Abdur Razzak, Rubel Hossain, Shafiul Islam, Nazmul Hossain, Suhrawadi Shuvo.

Match starts at 1430 hrs (IST).

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An unassailable lead in hand, the rampaging Indian team will now push for a series whitewash when it takes on a grossly mismatched New Zealand in the inconsequential fourth one-dayer of the five-match rubber on Tuesday.

Stand-in skipper Gautam Gambhir has led from the front with back-to-back centuries to inflict one of the worst series defeats on the visitors in the two countries’ bilateral history which dates back to 1975-76.

The second string team’s exemplary performance in the absence of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Suresh Raina and Harbhajan Singh has also given a boost to the side’s World Cup aspirations.

The young players such as Virat Kohli, Murali Vijay and Saurabh Tiwary have made an impact and would have impressed regular captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni just a couple of months ahead of the World Cup being hosted in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Chairman of the natiolnal selection panel, Krish Srikkanth, said the youngsters have done well for themselves and their performance has shown that team’s World Cup preparations are going according to the plan.

“Youngsters in the team have proved that the bench strength is good. It is important that we keep winning all our matches up to end of the World Cup,” Srikkanth said ahead of the match.

“Overall, I am confident that the players will perform to their potential and keep the momentum. I am glad that the preparation for the World Cup is on the right track,” he said.

As for Tueday’s match, the Indian players are an upbeat lot and would be looking to keep the momentum going for a whitewash.

Despite being a second-string side, the Indians have proved themselves better on all counts against a short-of-confidence New Zealand, which came here after being hammered 0-4 by minnows Bangladesh.

The Indian line-up has not exactly missed the dashing Virender Sehwag or the reliable Sachin Tendulkar as the likes Virat Kohli have stepped in effortlessely against a rather ineffective Kiwi attack.

Kohli, who has been good nick in the domestic circuit, has been solid so far along with Murali Vijay.

The Indian bowling has been spearheaded well by senior pacer Zaheer Khan along with the spinners. Young off-spinner R Ashwin has, in fact, managed to make quite an impact but he has to be more economical in the middle overs.

The Kiwis, on the other hand, have been struggling and skipper Daniel vettori has to do a lot of head-scratching to find a way out of the slump that has gripped the team after a fighting performance in the Test series.

Vettori and his men would be desperate to regain confidence which has been dented severely by three defeats on the trot.

The key to it is a solid batting performance and the visitors will look towards Martin Guptill and Brendon McCullum to give them the rare crackling start. Ross Taylor and Scott Styris can consolidate from there on.

Kiwi new ball bowlers Kyle Mills and Andy McKay and one-change pacer James Franklin have the ability to disturb any combination along with Vettori but the quartet has so far struggled on pitches which have always been a batsman’s delight.

India: Gautam Gambhir (Captain), Murali Vijay, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Sourav Tiwary, Yusuf Pathan, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), R Ashwin, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Praveen Kumar, Munaf Patel, Ravindra Jadeja and R Vinay Kumar.

New Zealand: Daniel Vettori (Captain), Martin Guptill, Brendon McCullum, Jamie How, Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor, Scott Styris, Gareth Hopkins (wk), Nathan McCullum, Kyle Mills, Tim Southee, Andy McKay, James Franklin and Grant Elliott.

Hours of play: 2.30 pm to 6.00 pm, 6.40 pm to close of play.

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The second ODI between Pakistan and South Africa is going to begin by 16:30 Indian Standard Time.

The Pakistan team is moving through a bad phase from a long time. They lost the T20 series to the South Africans. Even, they couldn’t win the first ODI against South Africa.

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Expected Teams:

Pakistan: Asad Shafiq, Mohammad Hafeez, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Umar Akmal, Shahid Afridi (c), Abdul Razzaq, Zulqarnain Haider (w), Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Shoaib Akhtar.

South Africa: Hashim Amla, Colin Ingram, AB de Villiers (w), Jean-Paul Duminy, David Miller, Albie Morkel, Johan Botha (c), Robin Peterson, Morne Morkel, Charl Langeveldt, Lonwabo Tsotsobe.

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The one-off T20 between Australia and Sri Lanka will be played at Perth on Sunday, October 31. This will be followed by a three ODI series, that should lead the Aussies into the Ashes 2010. Sri Lanka, on the other hand, are playing in their first international fixture since winning the tri-series in August but the couple of warm-up games in Australia should have helped.

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Sri Lanka had a good start to their tour of Australia when they won the two warm-up games against New South Wales and Queensland. While playing against the main Australian side in Australia will be a different kettle of fish, this could just be their best chance to win a game or two in Australia.

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South Africa and Pakistan gear up for next year’s World Cup with a five-match one-day series starting from Friday, as captains Graeme Smith and Shahid Afridi urged their teams to keep focus.

South Africa are in top form after thumping a hapless Zimbabwe 3-0 in a one-day series at home and beat Pakistan in both the Twenty20 matches comfortably in a prelude to the 50-over matches.

Smith, who handed Twenty20 captaincy to Johan Botha last month to prolong his career, said development of the side is key ahead of the 2011 World Cup to be jointly hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh starting February.

“It will be the first taste of the sub-continent conditions before the World Cup,” Smith said of the series. “South Africa is keen on the development of the side before the World Cup and are excited to be here.”

South Africa, one of the top teams not to have won the World Cup, will also play two Tests in Dubai and Abu Dhabi in a series shifted to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) due to security fears in Pakistan.

Smith hoped cricket will remain in focus after Pakistan’s recent tour of England marred by spot-fixing allegations which damaged the game at international level.

“We hope cricket would be played the right way and in the end it will be cricket that makes the headlines for the performances on the field,” said Smith, whose team is playing in the UAE for the first time since 2000.

Three Pakistan players – Salman Butt and bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer – were suspended by the International Cricket Council (ICC) over allegations of spot-fixing during August’s Lord’s Tests against England.

Afridi admitted Pakistan team will miss the three suspended players.

“There is no doubt that they are our key players and we are going to miss them, but we have plenty of talent and we will try our best to overcome that loss because World Cup is so close,” said Afridi, who played down Twenty20 defeats.

“We batted poorly in both the games, but we are a good one-day side and if we play to our potential we can beat South Africa,” said Afridi, whose team also lost both the Twenty20 matches and five-match one-day series in England.

Afridi said his players were focused and will not let the team down.

“What happened on the England tour is now past and this is a new series and a new challenge for which we are fully focused,” said Afridi.

South Africa still sweat on the fitness of fast bowler Dale Steyn and all-rounder Jacques Kallis, who both missed the Twenty20 series due to injuries.

Teams (from):

Pakistan: Shahid Afridi (capt), Imran Farhat, Shahzaib Hasan, Mohammad Hafeez, Younis Khan, Asad Shafiq, Umar Akmal, Misbah-ul-Haq, Fawad Alam, Abdul Razzaq, Zulqarnain Haider, Umar Gul, Shoaib Akhtar, Wahab Riaz, Tanveer Ahmed, Saeed Ajmal, Abdul Rehman

South Africa: Graeme Smith (capt), Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers, Johan Botha, Jean-Paul Duminy, Colin Ingram, Jacques Kallis, Charl Langeveldt, David Miller, Albie Morkel, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell, Robin Peterson, Dale Steyn, Lonwabo Tsotsobe

Umpires: Asad Rauf (PAK) and Rodney Tucker (AUS)

TV umpire: Zameer Haider (PAK)

Match referee: Andy Pycroft (ZIM)

India will be lot more confident when they take on an injury-hit Australia in the second One-day International here on Wednesday.

Apart from India’s valiant lower-order fightback, courtesy Harbhajan Singh and Praveen Kumar, Australia did everything right and were the deserving winners in the first ODI in Vadodara.

While there is still a lot of cricket left in the seven-match series, the injuries to their frontline players have become a headache for the Australians.

Brett Lee and James Hopes will miss Wednesday’s game with elbow and hamstring problems, respectively, while Mitchell Johnson, who twisted his ankle in Vadodara, is also doubtful. As a result, New South Wales Blues’ all-rounder Moises Hendriques has been asked to fly to India as a cover for the pacers.

Australia coach Tim Nielsen is hoping that Johnson would be able to make it for the match. ‘Johnson has woken up a lot better today morning than we thought. We hope that he could be drafted in for the game,’ said Nielsen.

Left-arm medium pacer Doug Bollinger, who was impressive in the Champions League Twenty20 playing for New South Wales and right arm medium pacer Ben Hilfenhaus are expected to fill the vacant slots. In that case, Peter Siddle will have to share the workload of leading the Australian attack.

India’s top-order batsmen faltered while chasing 293 in the Vadodara One-dayer. Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar looked in good touch but could not continue for long. Gautam Gambhir was the only Indian batsmen to get a half-century.

Yuvraj Singh is expected to make his international comeback after being on the sidelines with a finger injury. His presence should bolster the batting line-up.

The bowling, too, was lacklustre in the first match. Praveen Kumar was not penetrative and pressure will be on him to retain his place with Munaf Patel around.

Harbhajan might have done his bit with the bat, but he lacked the sting in his bowling. This will be the first One-Day International in Nagpur since the new stadium was built on the city’s outskirts in Jamtha.

The city last hosted the deciding Test of the India-Australia series in 2008.