The final of Zimbabwe’s first triangular tournament takes placetomorrow, with the home side, demoralized by injuries and controversyoff the field, out of it
John Ward06-Jul-2001The final of Zimbabwe’s first triangular tournament takes placetomorrow, with the home side, demoralized by injuries and controversyoff the field, out of it. Visiting teams India and West Indies faceeach other at the Harare Sports Club.India are strong favourites to win the trophy after their clean sweepof all four first-round matches. Although West Indies have perhapsshown the best batting form of the three teams on view, India havebeen by far the most impressive team all-round, winning all theirmatches in reasonable comfort. Their bowling and fielding alike havebeen superior to anything the opposition has been able to offer.West Indies go into the match severely handicapped by the loss througha stress fracture in the foot of Cameron Cuffy, their most consistentbowler. In their most recent match, Mervyn Dillon took over Cuffy’smantle with reasonable success, and West Indies will be looking to himas the backbone of their attack. The other bowlers, except for thegentle off-breaks of captain Carl Hooper, have been erratic andprovided the opposing batsmen with little to worry about. Their attackhas lacked the ability to apply consistent pressure at both ends.India, on the other hand, have been well served by their seamers, andAshish Nehra continues to prove himself as their find of the tour. Theother seamers have backed him up adequately and no doubt HarbhajanSingh will play in the final to add a new dimension of spin bowlingthat their opponents cannot match.The West Indian batting has done well, although not well enough toovercome the inadequacies of their bowlers against India. On Wednesdaythey were perhaps unable to appreciate their good fortune in being putin to bat on a superb batting pitch, and scored a little too slowly toset the sort of target they should have been aiming for.Hooper would do well to think of promoting himself, with his greatexperience and powerful bat, to number four should the situationwarrant it. He came in too late on Wednesday to take full advantage ofa promising situation that required quick runs. Chris Gayle hasperhaps looked the best of the top three, but has a tendency to gethimself out when apparently on the verge of great deeds.Ridley Jacobs, and the team as a whole, will probably not be undulydistracted by his ban. Match referee Denis Lindsay presumably did notban him from playing in this final because of the disruptive effect itwould have had on the whole team to lose their wicket-keeper withoutan adequate replacement being available. He too may well warrantpromotion in the right situation, as he rarely fails with the bat whenruns are urgently needed. The quieter contributions of ShivnarineChanderpaul should not be overlooked, but in the one-day game heappears more as a steadier of the innings than a powerful attackingweapon.India’s batting line-up, such an awesome powerhouse on their own soil,has not adjusted fully to local conditions, but except in the SecondTest match they have proved adequate for the job. Sachin Tendulkar andSourav Ganguly have opened very well in the one-day tournament, andWest Indies will need to separate them early. Rahul Dravid has shownhis ability to play the appropriate game in any situation, but socompetently has the top order performed that he has not really beenstretched so far this tournament. VVS Laxman has been passed fit againfor the final, so the Indian batting will be at full strength. ManagerChetan Chauhan confirms that his players are all fit and the finalside will be chosen from 13, with Dinesh Mongia and Ajit Agarkaromitted.As far as fielding is concerned, India have the definite edge here.They have improved remarkably since John Wright took over as coach,while West Indies have been erratic at times. West Indian managerRicky Skerritt says that his available players, like India, are allfit, including Corey Collymore who had to miss Wednesday’s match, butthey have not yet narrowed down the selection.The wild card at the Harare Sports Club is always the pitch. Losingthe toss in their first match against India on a damp pitch condemnedZimbabwe to likely defeat, and should West Indies have similar goodfortune tomorrow, anything could happen. But no doubt the newgroundsman will have learnt his lesson and will ensure that heprovides a track every bit as good as it was on Wednesday. The teamwinning the toss then would be well advised to bat first.Being one-day cricket, anything could happen and West Indies certainlycannot be written off. If they play above themselves, or if India havethe off day that happens to even the best of teams sometimes, therecould be an upset, but it would be an injustice, for India have twicebeaten West Indies so far. They have been the outstanding team in thetournament and deserve to win the trophy tomorrow.