|
Now even Rahul Dravid has learned the trick and has stoutly defended Sourav Ganguly even after he failed to score in the second ODI. It may be mentioned that after a lot of struggle Ganguly finally managed an aggregate of 48 runs in five Test innings against Pakistan. In the first at Kochi he scored a golden duck, a first-ball dismissal, which his defenders said was plain bad luck, as apposed to plain bad form.
Dravid doesn't want Sehwag to run away with the skipper's mantle without giving him a run for his money. And wonder of wonders, now even Dhoni has started to praise Ganguly's leadership. Another candidate for captain of the future? Well, Dhoni still has a long way to go whereas Sehwag and Dravid are tried and trusted horses so to say. But the next game will be played at Jamshedpur, Dhoni's home state of Bihar so he could be trying harder there and this the Pakistanis are aware of.
Pakistani coach Bob Woolmer says they have not the right combination of performance yet but will be working on it. At Kochi they bowled well but didn't do well with the bat and at Vishakapatnam they bowled very badly but batted well enough to get where they got. The trick he says is to do well in both department. So, what about fielding then? Is that a department or is the coach trying to forget something? Doesn't he remember how many times Sehwag alone was let off at Kochi?
Finally there is a dastardly rumour that Shoaib Malik may lose his place because he is busier off the field shopping for his wedding than concentrating on the field and it shows. Well, he was a bit off colour when he was fielding and didn't exactly set the field on fire when batting but his supporters say, "Let him bowl, then, let him just bowl."
|