Indians keen to remove tag of chokers

Kolkata, January 18: Branded as chokers for invariably failing to deliver the goods in crunch games, Indian captain Sourav Ganguly and his men's ability to handle pressure in tight situations will be put to test during the six-match limited overs series against England beginning at the Eden Gardens here tomorrow.

The Indians have been succumbing tamely in summit showdowns for long and the hosts appear more determined to salvage their honour in what promises to be a classic contest of nerves and skills.

Haunted by the sequence of nine consecutive defeats in one-day finals, Saurav's men will be heavily banking on home advantage to script a revival in their fortunes against a relatively young England team which has the capability of springing a surprise on any fancied team.

But the home side, which has the inherent capacity of taking their game to a sublime level and collapsing like a pack of cards in the very next moment, have to maintain a high level of consistency right through the series to put pressure on their opponents.

The consistency factor could play a big role in determining which team clinches the title and the Indians under their first foreign coach John Wright have begun working on this aspect.

Captain Ganguly's leadership qualities as well as his current batting form will also come under the scanner and it was high time that the 'Prince of Kolkata' silenced his growing number of critics by allowing his bat to speak.

The elegant left hander, woefully short of runs for much too long, will have to shrug off the increasing pressure and continue to play his natural game which had brought him plenty of runs in the one-dayers during the last few years.

The Indian skipper could not ask for a better venue than the historic Eden Gardens to return to form in front of a packed-to-capacity home ground. Despite the fact that Ganguly's record at his home ground has hardly been inspiring, the skipper has already expressed his determination to lead from the front.

Clearly, the Indians were a far more formidable side in their own den where the tracks favour the batsmen and should capitalise on the psychological advantage of playing at home.

The Englishmen were more than aware of India's vulnerability in pressure situations as captain Nasser Hussain, who commands a lot of respect from his teammates, harped on the point on the very first day of their arrival.

Though it remains to be seen whether Hussain and his teammates would be able to put sufficient pressure on the hosts, the visitors will leave no stone unturned to return home with their heads high.

England themselves have not been too consistent in the shorter version of the game but the convincing 5-0 win against Zimbabwe in the last series would serve as a morale-booster for the rather inexperienced side.

The Indians, however, will badly miss the services of dependable bastman Rahul Dravid who is currently in Johannesburg undertaking a rehabilitation programme for his injured shoulder.

With the middle order looking quite brittle with a host of young players joining the team, Dravid could have given solidity to the batting by playing the role of the sheet anchor in case of a collapse.

Indian hopes of amassing a big total would no doubt rest on batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar who was capable of tearing to shred any bowling attack on his day.

The star batsman, who seems to have curbed his natural attacking insticts to some extent in recent times, will have to give a rollicking start alongwith Ganguly to provide the momentum to the innings. Incidentally Tendulkar-Ganguly opening pair is currently the best in the world as far as their record in the limited version of the game is concerned.

The Indian opening pair must have taken note of England pace spearhead Andrew Caddick's remark that they were not the best opening pair in one-dayers and would be quite keen to prove a point to the lanky speedster.

Despite the presence of the hard-hitting Virender Sehwag, the Indian middle order does not look very dependable with none of the batsmen having shown the desired consistency in recent past.

The stylish V V S Laxman, who scaled spectacular heights with his heroic 281 against Australia in his last appearance at this venue, has not lived upto expectation since that breathtaking knock and it was time he shouldered a lot more responsibility in building the innings.

Left hander Hemang Badani, coming back into the squad after almost six weeks since being dropped for the South African series, will be eager to cement his place in the team with a consistent performance.

The Indian team will have a new wicket-keeper in Ajay Ratra during the series and his performance will be closely watched as the selectors keep hunting for the right man to do duty behind the stumps.

The young Ratra, who replaced Deep Dasgupta in the team, has the reputation of being a decent batsman and should be able to contribute some runs at the lower order.

In the bowling department the hosts will be depending on their famed spinners Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh to not only contain the run flow but pick up the wickets.

As far as England is concerned they have a number of dependable batsmen in their ranks and their performance in the second and third tests in the series before Christmas showed that they had learnt how to handle the Indian spinners.

Apart from captain Nasser Hussain, the seasoned Graham Thorpe and Marcus Trescothick will be the main batsmen for the visitors who arrived in the city more than a week in advance to prepare for the series to be played under unprecedented security arrangements.