Danger man Tendulkar ready to fire against foes he knows so well (4 June 1999)

4 June 1999

Danger man Tendulkar ready to fire against foes he knows so well

Michael Henderson

The first stage of the World Cup was a filter, through which six teams slipped with differing degrees of ease. The second round, the Super Sixes, brings together the remaining half-dozen in a week of relentless cricket, starting today with the meeting of Australia and India at the Oval. It is time for an eruption.

There were two big surprises in the qualifying round, sprung by Bangladesh and Zimbabwe against the respective group winners, and there was the lesser sensation of New Zealand's win against Australia.

Overall there were few matches of real quality, and some out-and-out shockers. It is still hard to take in that Zimbabwe, who played so poorly against England in the worst of them, should beat South Africa as they did.

Today's match is sharp enough in prospect to stimulate the most jaded palate. It derives additional flavour as Bob Simpson, who coached Australia to their World Cup triumph in 1987, which was the turning point in their steady march towards world domination, now works with the Indians.

The outcome will have an important bearing on the composition of the last four. As neither side are carrying forward any points from their qualifying group, defeat will hasten the loser's departure.

Pakistan and Zimbabwe, who each take four points through, are conceivably only one more victory away from a place in the semifinals.

There are too many good players on either side for today's match to be reduced to a contest between two of them. Nevertheless, people will take a special interest in the battle of wills and skills between Sachin Tendulkar, the finest batsman in the world, and Shane Warne, the master wrist spinner, who will not let a shoulder injury deprive him of a part in this game.

Although Warne did not bowl yesterday, Steve Waugh insisted that it was no more than a precaution.

"Every player goes into every game with some sort of injury," said the Australian captain. "It's all part of the game. I expect him to bowl well. I expect all our bowlers to bowl well."

Waugh refused to play up the contest within the contest, which pits Tendulkar against Warne and Glenn McGrath. "They have other players who are in better form at the moment."

That is quite true. Rahul Dravid has made two hundreds, one more than Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly, but it is the little man they have to look out for. His one-day record, which includes 22 hundreds, is extraordinary, and he loves playing against Australia.

His last five innings against these opponents in one-day cricket have yielded three hundreds, and, in all, he has made 1,119 runs facing them in 20 internationals at an average of 55.

Warne, who has played in 20 of those matches, has taken only eight of his 188 one-day wickets against India, at 54, which compares unfavourably with his overall average of 21.

In all one-day cricket Warne strikes every 35 balls. Against India he needs another 36 to get anybody out. These are interesting figures, which confirm Tendulkar's mastery. Nor is it confined to one-day cricket. In the last Test series in India, 15 months ago, India won 2-1. Tendulkar's scores were 4, 155 not out, 79, 177 and 31.

Tendulkar, who needs another seven runs for 8,000 in one-day international cricket, will open the innings today, and as a consequence India must be stronger.

Robin Singh, dropped against England at Edgbaston after he had taken five wickets against Sri Lanka, returns in the middle order.

Australia have taken time to come to terms with the tournament and Waugh mused yesterday that the carrying forward of points from the group games was a bit of a puzzle. But the dismissive way they beat the West Indies - if one ignores the crawl to victory - suggests they have found their feet and, now that they have qualified, they have renewed their purpose. From this point on, they will be hard to beat.

Australia have won four of the six World Cup games between the sides, two of them by a single run, and most recently in Bombay three years ago in a match of rare brilliance. Tendulkar made 90 stupendous runs that night, adorning a game dignified by Mark Waugh's 126, Damien Fleming's five wickets and Mark Taylor's superb captaincy. If the players provide anything half as spectacular as that, it will be a treat.

Australia: ME Waugh, AC -Gilchrist, RT Ponting, DS Lehmann, *SR Waugh, MG Bevan, TM Moody, BP Julian, SK Warne, DW Fleming, GD McGrath.

India: SR Tendulkar, SC Ganguly, R Dravid, *M Azharuddin, A Jadeja, RR Singh, -NR Mongia, A Kumble, J Srinath, BKV Prasad, D Mohanty.

Source :: The Electronic Telegraph