Yuvraj makes a comeback as India look to level the series

By Rahul Bajaj
for Cricketain.com

Published: October 28, 2009

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Nagpur: Australia may have won the first ODI and taken a 1-0 lead in the series but India will be the more confident team going into the second ODI to be played at Nagpur on Wednesday.

India has been bolstered by the return of southpaw Yuvraj Singh while the Aussies will be going into the match without their frontline fast bowlers Brett Lee and all-rounder James Hopes. India has badly missed the presence of an explosive batsman like Yuvraj Singh in the middle order, not to forget his left arm spin bowling which has proved very effective in the last year.

The hosts will also look to take advantage of the injury-induced absence of pacer Brett Lee and all-rounder James Hopes. Australia’s other lead fast bowler, Mitchell Johnson, is also a doubtful starter for the game. Australia coach Tim Nielsen is hoping that Johnson would be able to make it for the match.

“Johnson has woken up a lot better today morning than we thought. We hope that he can be drafted in for the game,” said Nielsen.

Left-arm medium pacer Doug Bollinger, who was impressive in the Champions League Twenty20 playing for New South Wales and right arm medium pacer Ben Hilfenhaus are expected to fill the vacant slots. In that case, Peter Siddle will have to share the workload of leading the Australian attack.

Trailing in the series by 0-1, India would be looking to get back to winning ways in the 50-over format of the game. Their form has been inconsistent in this format since their tour to the West Indies in June-July earlier this year. Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men have won only five out of a dozen matches they have played since the series in the Caribbean, losing an equal number while two ties have ended in no result.

More than their inconsistency, a loss on Wednesday would put them in trouble as they will have to win four out of the remaining five matches to win the series. India were completely outplayed by the Aussies in the first one-dayer in Vadodara but the absence of Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson coupled with the return of the dashing Yuvraj Singh would enormously lift the confidence of the Indian team.

With a strike rate of close to 90, Yuvraj, whose last ODI innings was 56 not out off 41 balls against Sri Lanka, provides the major boost in the middle overs when the ball becomes a bit soft, and with him back, the Indian batting wears a completely different look. He’s expected to come into the side at the expense of either Suresh Raina, who flopped with the bat at Vadodara, or Ravindra Jadeja, who bowled very well in the first ODI but failed with the bat.

Indian bowling, too, was lacklustre in the first match. Praveen Kumar was not penetrative and pressure will be on him to retain his place with Munaf Patel waiting for a chance. Harbhajan might have done his bit with the bat, but he lacked the sting in his bowling.

The venue made its international debut by hosting the last Test of the India-Australia series last year. A capacity crowd of around 40,000 is expected for the first day/night match in this Orange City, that would be a far cry from the dismal attendance for the Test in November, 2008.

To minimise the dew problem created to the side which bowls second, the organisers have decided to spray some chemicals which they said would reduce dew by around 40 per cent.

Squads:

Australia: Ricky Ponting (captain), Michael Hussey, Doug Bollinger, Nathan Hauritz, Jon Holland, Ben Hilfenhaus, Shaun Marsh, Tim Paine, Peter Siddle, Adam Voges, Shane Watson and Cameron White.

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel, Ashish Nehra, Praveen Kumar, Amit Mishra, Sudeep Tyagi, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja.

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