 Chance for Uthappa and Gambhir to make a mark
22nd Jun 2007 23:00 IST
Agencies
However, Sehwag's woeful form has left it to Uthappa and Gambhir to make use of an opportunity. Sehwag was dropped for the home series against the West Indies and Sri Lanka ahead of the World Cup, but made a comeback for the trip to the Caribbean.
Prior to that, the Delhi opener remained a part of India's squad during the tour of the West Indies, the Champions Trophy, the DLF tri-series in Malaysia and the tour of South Africa.
A series of unsuccessful attempts with the bat resulted in his ouster from the team.
Uthappa holds the record of the highest score for any Indian debutant in an ODI when he made 86 as an opening batsman in the seventh and final match of the English tour of India in April 2006. A batting average of near 40 with a strike rate of approximately 90 has made him regarded as something of an ODI specialist.
Gambhir is only the fourth Indian batsman to score a double century in a tour game at home, the previous three being Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar and Sachin Tendulkar.
Gambhir made his ODI debut against Bangladesh in 2003. In his third match, he scored 71 and was named Man of the Match. His maiden century {103 off 97 balls) came against Sri Lanka in 2005.
So the tour of UK is the opportunity for both Uthappa and Gambhir to cement their place in the Indian ODI side and considering Sehwag’s record, they indeed have big shoes to fill. |
