March 17, 2001
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The euphoria of the amazing victory at Kolkata has still not died down, but the Indian selectors have got down to business to formulate a team that can best handle the until now rampaging Aussies. After Laxman's success at the number 3 spot the post has been awarded to him for the Chennai Test with SS Das having a new partner in Rahul Dravid. S Ramesh's lack of application will result in his inability to play before his home crowd, while yet another Tamil Nadu youngster Hemang Badani looks all set to make his Test debut. Meanwhile, Mumbai's captain Sameer Dighe will keep wickets in the Chennai Test in the absence of the injured Nayan Mongia and Vijay Dahiya. Celebrations of India's victory over Australia were not only limited to India. People of Indian origin in South Africa sat glued to the TV to watch the lowly Indians pull off a miracle from the third day onwards. The Indian cricketers are a household name in South Africa, which has a large population of expatriate Indians. The television channel (M-Net) that telecast the match played a video song "Come on India" with Hindi lyrics for the first time. Australian Prime-minister John Howard has congratulated India on its amazing 171 run victory at Kolkata. However he called the Australians "a magnificent team" and wished them luck for the final Test, which begins tomorrow at Chennai. Meanwhile skipper Sourav Ganguly is attempting to bring his troop down to earth after the euphoric victory. Ganguly said the job was only half done and was keen to refocus the minds of the cricketers on the job that was remaining. He said all the good work done in the second Test would come to naught if they threw it away at Chennai. Eden Gardens as a venue came out with flying colours after the extensive preventive measures undertaken by the CAB to contain crowd trouble apparently worked. At the beginning of the second Test crowds were warned that the ICC would ban the venue if there were any crowd trouble. It would have been interestingly to visualise the crowd reaction had India lost the match, which at one stage looked almost certain! After engaging in the mind game with the Indian batsman who had no clue as to how to handle his wares at Mumbai, Shane Warne has now got himself in a mental tangle after being at the receiving end of VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid. The Aussie camp is concerned that Warne may also not be able to handle the physical stress at Chennai and is likely to be replaced by Colin Miller. He has developed some cracks in the skin on the middle finger of his bowling hand that is causing him ome pain. Ricky Ponting is also another Australian who has a cloud hanging over him preceding the second Test with his inability to tackle off-spinner Harbhajan Singh. Middle-order batsman Damien Martyn is likely to replace Ponting at Chennai.  After bowling out Sri Lanka for 241 England battled to 175-4 at close of play on the second day of the deciding Test at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground at Colombo. After a promising start England lost a couple of quick wickets to the spin web that the Sri Lankan's spun and it took a stand between Graham Thorpe and Michael Vaughan to rescue the tourists. Thorpe was batting on 71. The England skipper Nasser Hussain is likely to miss the one-day internationals to be played in Sri Lanka after the third Test due to injury problems. Hussain who is suffering from side and groin strains required a runner to bat and was in visible discomfort through out his short stint at the crease before being eventually dismissed for just eight. Michael Vaughan will replace Hussain in case the latter is unable to play in the one-day series. After bowling out New Zealand for 476 that included a dogged 204 not out by Mathew Sinclair, Pakistan in reply were 131-2 at lunch on the second day of the second Test against New Zealand at Christchurch. Inzamam-ul Haq on 50 and youngster Faisal Iqbal on 41 were at the crease and have so far put on 106 for the third wicket. . After returning to Pakistan following injury in the one-day series against New Zealand, former Pakistan skipper Wasim Akram said he would like to play the England series in May-June before he retires. Akram, 35, said he had played cricket in Lancashire for a long time and would like the England tour to be his swan song. Akram also denied reports that he was faking injury to avoid playing in New Zealand.
The manager of the West Indies team Ricky Skerritt said he has been trying to instill new discipline in the West Indies team. He is determined to get rid of the team's reputation of concentrating on off-field matters (such as partying etc.) rather than on-field ones. Having lost 18 of their last 20 Tests away from home West Indies cricket was faced with indiscipline and attitude problems. Skerritt says he is confident that all that will change after a morale boosting draw against the South Africans in the opening Test at Georgetown, in which they had the upper hand on many an occasion. He also added that the Windies had a fairly good record at home. West Indies meet South Africa in the second Test of the series today at Port of Spain They will be looking to break the stalemate of the first Test, in which according to both the skippers no team had the upper hand. Courtney Walsh will be hunting for his 500th wicket. He still needs four wickets.
AUSTRALIA IN INDIA Pakistan vs New Zealand 2nd Test at Christchrurch (2nd day) New Zealand: 476 (M Richardson 46, M Bell 75, M Sinclair 204 not out, S Fleming 32, A Parore 46; Waqar Younis 3-114, Fazl-e-Akbar 3-87, Saqlain Mushtaq 3-134) Pakistan: 65-2 Sri Lanka vs England 3rd Test at Colombo (2nd day) Sri Lanka: 241 (S Jayasuriya 45, K Sangakkara 45, A deSilva 38, M Jayawardene 71; R Croft 4-56) England: 78-4 (G Thorpe 71 not out, M Vaughan 26 not out). Yesterday's News
Compiled by: Mohandas Menon
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