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This is an archive article published on April 20, 2003

Big guns add to captain’s firepower for final

Undeterred by the defeat in the last match, India will seek to draw inspiration from their splendid World Cup campaign and go into the TVS ...

Undeterred by the defeat in the last match, India will seek to draw inspiration from their splendid World Cup campaign and go into the TVS Cup tri-series final against South Africa here tomorrow with a positive frame of mind.

short article insert The five-wicket defeat in the last match against the South Africans halted India’s winning run in the tournament but captain Saurav Ganguly insists that it will not dent the morale of his young team which is eager to add one more title to its collection.

“I don’t think it will affect our morale. We didn’t play well enough to win the last game. It’s a question of how you play on that particular day which matters. I am sure we will be able to lift our game tomorrow,” Ganguly said.

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The return of star performers Zaheer Khan and Yuvraj Singh will bolster the team to a great extent, a fact which was acknowledged by the captain himself.

“We missed their services in the last match. There was abit of inexperience in both the bowling and batting departments. But it gave the youngsters an opportunity to prove their worth,” he said.

Both Zaheer and Yuvraj Singh had to sit out of the last two matches because of indisposition. While Zaheer had suffered a slight hamstring injury in the match against South Africa last Sunday, Yuvraj was down with flu and the team management expects that the duo will be fit enough to take the field tomorrow.

The presence of Zaheer and Yuvraj will strengthen the team to a great extent and indications from the Indian camp suggests that both will play. But there are other injury concerns to keep the Indians a trifle worried ahead of the summit showdown. Vice-captain Virender Sehwag, who received a nasty blowon his right elbow from a Makhaya Ntini delivery yesterday, is still experiencing a lot of pain but is likely to play tomorrow.

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A precautionary X-ray has showed that there is no fracture which prompted Sehwag to return to the crease and finish his innings yesterday and did not hesistate to put in as many as eight overs when the captain threw the ball to him to capitalise on the slow track.

Even off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has been carrying a finger injury for quite some time though it is still not serious enough to confine him to the dressing room. Since the Indians have a long break after this tournament, the players have decided to complete their engagements on this tour and then attend to their injury problems.

The South Africans have improved with every game and have begun to get their combinations right and could give the in-form Indians a run for their money.

Although captain Graeme Smith considered the Indians as the “in-form team” going into the final, he wants his young team to gain from the confidence of having defeated the World Cup finalists yesterday.

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“It was a very good victory. We are slowly getting things right. The batsmen and the bowlers have adapted to the conditions. It would be a keen competition,” Smith, the youngest to captain South Africa till date, said.

The Indians will be looking to a good start from openers Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, who did not have a particularly memorable match against the South Africans yesterday.

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