NAGPUR, NOVEMBER 24: Saurav Ganguly appears to be on the warpath against the powers that be in the cricket establishment, though he would not like to carry on the battle while he’s preparing to seal the series 2-0, and score a hat-trick of Test wins as Indian captain.Ganguly conceded it sounded bad enough when he made that statement against the Board. ‘‘But I do not know what to do.’’ Obviosuly, the Indian captain was referring to his demand of getting the pitch of his choice. To his discomfiture, he’s finding it difficult to get what he wants. Ganguly wanted a spinner-friendly wicket in Delhi, but did not get it. In Nagpur, where the Indians would like to wind up the series 2-0, the skipper would be disappointed, though he had requested the BCCI secretary JY Lele to pass on the message to the Vidarbha Cricket Association to prepare a spinner-friendly track for the final Test. ‘‘I had spoken to Mr Lele to pass on the message, but it seems the message has not reached the Nagpur groundsmen. It seems they did not want it,’’ Ganguly told the mediapersons after the practise session this morning. The Indian captain was so worked up that he reluctantly interrupted coach John Wright, who was about to answer a question as to who should decide on the condition of the wicket the hosting association or the players. ‘‘It is the players who play out in the middle, not the state association,’’ a peeved Ganguly thundered before Wright could utter a word. Ganguly now appears more determined an unyielding BCCI notwithstanding. He wants to win the final Test at any cost. The wicket here looks flat and the Indian batting line-up powered by Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar to whom VCA is a happy hunting ground can force a result. Ganguly’s focus is crystal clear. ‘‘I don’t want to start a controversy and I can only say we are satisfied with the wicket. If we want to win we will have to play good cricket,’’ he added. The Indian skipper plans to play five bowlers in the second Test although he is a vociferous believer of a ‘four specialist bowler’ formula’. ‘‘The spinners did not bowl as well as expected in Delhi and the whole burden was shouldered by Javagal Srinath,’’ Ganguly said, suggesting he himself and Sachin Tendulkar could bowl to give regulars a break. ‘‘We must learn to win without Anil Kumble. Admittedly, it becomes too difficult to tame the opponents in his (Kumble’s) absense.. Above all, I erred by not including Zaheer Khan for the first Test. It is a bit too much to ask Srinath to bowl 40 to 50 overs every match, although I have lot of faith in Zaheer and Ajit Agarkar. And I want to play all three seamers tomorrow,’’ he said. As Zaheer’s inclusion is certain, the man in the waiting, off-spinner Sharandeep Singh’s chance of playing tomorrow depends on the VCA track. Ganguly will inspect the pitch before the start of the match and then decide if Sharandeep deserves a Test cap. However, Ganguly’s remark that Sharandeep could be useful to tackle a few left-handers in the Zimbabwe squad would bring a ray of hope to the aspirant. Controversies notwithstanding, the Indian captain and coach have promised to concentrate on the grey areas and develop the team into a match-winning outfit. Particularly, Ganguly’s goof-up in the slip cordon in Delhi and the subsequent lack of specialist fielders seem to be their concern. ‘‘The most important thing is to improve our catching. In Delhi the Indians dropped a few sitters and I hope there will be improvement in the Nagpur game because they are natural fielders,’’ Wright said. The Zimbabwean skipper Heath Streak looks forward to the match as the battle of batsmen. He said he would like to square the series. But it depends on how solidly his openers begin the innings. With Srinath, Agarkar and Zaheer working hard in the morning sessions when the pitch is expected to favour the seamers, the tourists may not be able to repeat the Delhi act of scoring 400 plus runs in an innings. The tourists will be playing minus Paul Strang, who is flying home because of a dogging arm injury. All rounder Dirk Viljoun will replace him for the one-day series, informed coach Carl Rackeman. Injured Travis Friend was very much encouraging in the nets, and he’s likely to be drafted into the final eleven. THE TEAMS (from):INDIA: Saurav Ganguly (Capt), Sadagopan Ramesh, Rahul Dravid, Shiv Sunder Das, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Zaheer Khan, Javagal Srinath, Ajit Agarkar, Vijay Dahiya (WK), Sharandeep Singh, Sunil Joshi, Murali Kartik andMohammed Kaif. ZIMBABWE: Heath Streak (Capt), Guy Whittall (Vice-Capt), Alistair Campbell, Stuart Carlisle, Andy Flower (WK), Grant Flower, Travis Friend, Trevor Madondo, Douglas Marillier, Brian Murphy, Mluleki Nkada, Henry Olonga, Gavin Rennie and Bryan Strang Umpires: AV Jayapraksh (India) and Steve Dunne (New Zealand). Third Umpire: Suhas Phadkar (India). Paul Strang to fly back homeNAGPUR:ZIMBABWEAN leg-spinner Paul Strang, who injured his bowling arm during the first Test match against India in Delhi, will fly back home on Saturday.Manager of the Zimbabwe team, Babu Meman, told PTI here that his replacement Dirk Viljoun, a left arm spinner and a middle-order batsman, had joined the fifteen-member team on Thursday.Meanwhile, the Zimbabwean coach Carl Rackemann, a former Aussie speedster, told reporters after his team’s net practice that talented 19-year-old speedster Travis Friend was still not fully fit to play.‘‘However, the swelling on his shin has subsided and therewas no pain when he bowled at the nets but we will take a final decision about him only tomorrow,’’ he added.Speaking about Saturday’s match, Rackemann said the morale of his boys was still high despite the loss in the first Test and ‘‘we are looking for a good start from our opening batsmen to put pressure on Indian bowlers.’’‘‘Our openers did not give us a good start in both the innings of the Delhi Test and I hope they give us a good start here as the wicket looks full of runs and if we win the toss we will definitely bat first,’’ he added. (PTI)
