After Tests, the tryouts

Published>Sun, Oct 17 10 07:12 AM

Huddled in a temporary shanty just outside the Nehru Stadium, close to 2500 police personnel awaited their respective assignments, as the loudspeaker blared out the specific areas of the ground that each of them will be manning come Sunday.

On the field, meanwhile, following a small puja performed by the curator near the square ? as they prayed for the rains to stay away? the groundstaff resumed their frantic activity of getting the playing area ready for the first ODI.

Elsewhere, forced to stay indoors because of the intermittent rains ever since they landed in Kochi, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Michael Clarke lamented about the boredom inflicted upon their respective teams.

However, every ODI here onwards? both teams have 13 games before the World Cup ? will be considered by all the teams as a warm-up for the grand event. And though most of the senior players rested by both India and Australia for the upcoming ODI series will be shoo-ins for the final squads, the three games will give the selectors a good look at their bench-strength as they look to finalise their personnel and the specific roles they'll play in the team come February 19.

With spearhead Zaheer Khan having been riddled with injuries in the past season, Praveen Kumar and Ashish Nehra have formed an unlikely yet productive pairing with the new-ball in ODI cricket over the last few months. But Dhoni, while stating that there were a few slots still up for grabs, insisted that his team's fast bowling attack seemed to be in good hands at the moment.

"If you see the fast bowlers in the side, Praveen Kumar has been performing quite consistently. You have Ashish, while Munaf has done well in Sri Lanka. Vinay Kumar has got a chance now which means we have got quite a set side. But depending on injuries, there might still be a fast bowling slot available," said the Indian skipper. Considering the packed schedule that most teams will be subjected to prior to the World Cup, injuries could well end up playing havoc with the teams' plans. And Dhoni insisted that playing it safe with some of the senior players in the side was paramount, while it was also a blessing in disguise as it provided the management to take a good look at the potential replacements.

"Most of the players have got some sort of a niggle or an injury. You have to be safe as you don't want these niggles to turn into serious injuries. Also resting a few players who have played a lot, will keep them fresh for the tournament," he added.

With the World Cup scheduled to be held at that time of the season, when the Indian pitches would have already endured a decent amount of domestic cricket, spin will obviously be a crucial factor for all the teams concerned. And Australia's stand-in skipper Clarke, while ascertaining that Ricky Ponting was still the right man to lead Australia despite all the speculation back home, is confident that the embattled Nathan Hauritz was still his team's No.1 spinner in all three formats.

"We have two good one-day spinners in Hauritz and Steven Smith. He would have liked to perform better in Tests no doubt, but Hauritz has been a good one-day bowler for a long time," said Clarke.

While Ravindra Jadeja, despite his limitations as a spin bowler, has established himself as the premier spin-option in the absence of Harbhajan Singh, he still needs to contribute more with the bat, said Dhoni.

With their permutations and combinations sorted all around, the organisers at Kochi can now only hope that the rains do not hinder anymore with the staging of the seventh ODI at this venue. The two teams, on the other hand, still have some way to go? and critical series to compete in ? before all their plans are finalized and will also not want to lose one of the last few opportunities to weigh their options.

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