NEWS

India-South Africa Series 2006>
Team India under pressure to contain South Africa
25th Nov 2006  20.05 IST
By Agencies  


Rattled by the Durban debacle and the stinging criticism by angry fans back home, a beleaguered India go into the third cricket one-dayer against South Africa in Cape Town on Sunday, unsure of the team composition and batting order which can deliver the goods on bouncy tracks.

The famed India batting line-up has come a cropper much too often and captain Rahul Dravid and coach Greg Chappell, both of whom are under enormous pressure, will literally burn the midnight oil to come up with a solution to deal with the battery of South African pacemen.

It will be a real test of character for the batsmen and another slip-up will only lead to a fresh uproar among fans and Parliamentarians, many of whom have called for the sacking of coach Chappell.

Although Dravid has always claimed that his batsmen have the capability to counter these fast and bouncy tracks, it was high time that they showed the skills as another defeat would leave the Indians completely on the rack.

A sore ankle to paceman Munaf Patel has only compounded India's misery ahead of the crucial match, but the team management is hopeful that the bowler would be fit to take the field on the morrow.

No doubt, the humiliating 157-run loss in second one-dayer in Durban would be rankling the Indian team management as the batsmen were at their wit's end in that match, not being able to find any way to handle the rampaging Proteas speedsters.

When India take to the Sahara Park ground in Newlands, they will have to begin afresh, leaving behind Durban abysmal performance in which only three batsmen - Tendulkar, Dravid and Dhoni - managed double figures scores.

Teams:

India: Rahul Dravid (captain), Virender Shewag , Sachin Tendulkar , Wasim Jaffer , Mohammad Kaif , Suresh Raina , Dinesh Mongia , Mahendra Dhoni (wicketkeeper), Irfan Pathan , Zaheer Khan , Anil Kumble , S Sreesanth , Harbhajan Singh and Ajit Agarkar .

South Africa: Graeme Smith (captain), Loots Bosman, Jacques Henry Kallis , Herschelle Gibbs , A.B. de Villiers, Mark Boucher (wicketkeeper), Justin Kemp , Shaun Maclean Pollock , Robin Peterson, Andre Nel, Makhaya Ntini , Boeta Dippenaar, Andrew Hall and Charl Langeveldt.

Umpires: Billy Doctrove (West Indies), South Africa to name second official.

Match referee: Chris Broad (England).


Also View
In-Depth Coverage: India-South Africa Series 2006
Team Page: India
Team Page: South Africa



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