Another heated affair on the cards

Having not taken the field at Kochi after his century, Dravid was best placed to talk about ways to tackle the heat. “The heat poses a good challenge. Players have to be smart in the way they manage these conditions and the side which manages the conditions better will emerge the winner,” Dravid said.

The month of April in India, noted Dravid, always acts tough on the players and therefore it is necessary to prepare smoothly. And therefore the Indian team management has come up with a strategy of time management.

As part of which first one-day hero Virender Sehwag was given a day off and the rest just went through the motions. At the other end of the spectrum the Pakistan team too shortened their training sessions. Humidity was a factor being battled even by them.

Though vice-captain Younis Khan joked that there can never be a plan to tackle nature, he accepted that heat “will be a factor’’. Incidentally, Younis is still not certain of playing the match as he is still recovering from fever that kept him out of the Kochi game. That apart the Pakistan team composition still remains hazy because Younis’ return will force a couple of changes.

What will be a soothing factor though for both Younis and Dravid would be a look at the newest Indian one-day international venue, the Andhra Cricket Association-Visakhapatnam District Cricket Association stadium. The Eastern Ghats overlook this venue situated some 20 kilometers from the city centre whereas the Bay of Bengal is just about a kilometer away. These two factors plus low-raised spectator enclosures make it easy for a cool breeze to blow across the ground negating the humidity to some extent.

But pitch curator PR Vishwanathan is not willing to take any chances and accepted that if heat played a part the nature of pitch might change. ‘‘It will be a 50-50 wicket, helping both batsmen and bowlers,’’ believes Vishwanathan.

In fact, the pitch at the venue is an unknown quantity because this will be the first-ever one-day international being player here. The earlier matches were played at the Indira Priyadarshini Stadium. Even in that case the Indian team will most probably not effect any changes.

But wouldn’t it be better for skipper Sourav Ganguly to drop himself down the order? ‘‘No,’’ came the prompt reply from Dravid. And he backed it with a reason too. “It (Ganguly’s poor form) is not posing any pressure on the team. Sourav has not been getting runs of late but surely he will come back sooner or later. Hence he will bat at No 3,” said Dravid.

This only means that despite Ganguly’s poor form the likes of Dravid, Yuvraj Singh and Mohammed Kaif despite being in better form in recent times will be asked to do the spade work in the later stages.

But the same is not true for the other Indian out of form, Irfan Pathan. Having lost his place to Ashish Nehra, the Baroda paceman will warm the benches yet again. Replacement Nehra’s poor fielding efforts notwithstanding he will still command a place on the basis of his showing in Kochi.