The face off between the BCCI and the ICC has come to a predictableend with the chiefs of both the governing bodies issuing a jointstatement. The telephone lines between India and London were busy, asthere was a deadline to be met in the case of Sehwag. The ICC tooksome time before comprehending the viewpoint of the BCCI. The BCCI wasnever for going against the apex international body but it wanted theICC to do something about the anomalies in the way the refereescarried out their duties. Finally, the ICC has shown the requiredunderstanding and agreed to look into the issues raised by the BCCIPresident, Mr Jagmohan Dalmiya.The series between England and India will now get underway and all theundue importance given to the Denness episode will thankfully bepushed to the back burner. The Englishmen have been here and haveplayed themselves in, so to speak, on Indian pitches. The results theyhave had may not be flattering but it would be prudent not to take thevisitors lightly.
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Nasser Hussain is on a mission in more ways than one and it would be areal test for his team. The Englishmen had done well in the subcontinent the last time they played against Pakistan and Sri Lanka,which would really make them fancy their chances. Of course, they aremissing the likes of Atherton and Stewart but they still have enoughstrength in their batting to combat the Indian attack. The fact thatthere is a lot of inexperience in the Indian medium-pace departmentand that coupled with the fact that the spinners Harbhajan Singh andAnil Kumble also are under pressure to perform would give greatcomfort to the visitors.
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Saurav Ganguly’s love-hate affair with the Indian selection committeecontinues. The Indian captain has come out with a strong statementafter he was not consulted before being given the team for the firstTest at Mohali. The entire bunch of medium-pacers from the squad inSouth Africa have been sacked and younger bowlers have been draftedin. The inclusion of a third spinner also comes as a surprise becausethe chances of playing all of them are frail. The third seamer maywell be Bangar but Ganguly may rather take up that responsibility. Thelack of harmony between the think tank and the selection committee isevident and this may prove to be beneficial for the visitors.If the track at Mohali behaves as it normally does, then theEnglishmen would stand upto the hosts in a manner contrary to theexpectations of Indian fans. The visitors are no strangers to seamingsurfaces and the relatively inexperienced Indian pace attack wouldpose no great threat to the England side. Mark Butcher and MarcusTrescothick, the likely England openers, are capable of making bigscores. Their middle-order batsmen are also good players of spinbowling.Hussain, for his part, is a tough nut and quite obviously he knowswhat to expect in India. He is though without his two main wickettakers, Darren Gough and Andrew Caddick, which leaves him with CraigWhite as the spearhead. Ashley Giles can be a handful on turningtracks but he is coming back to international cricket after a longbreak owing to injury.Given the fact that the Indians are trying to recover from the SouthAfrican blues, the visitors have a realistic chance of turning thetables in Mohali. If they miss out there, then it will be tough forthem to beat the Indians either in Ahmedabad or Bangalore.
