India may face stiff resistance from South Africa

Colombo, September 24: As they seek to tighten their grip over the Champions Trophy in Wednesday's semi-final, India are likely to face a much stiffer resistance from a strong South Africa.

The way India swept aside England in their last league match on Sunday, they certainly lived up to the tag of favourites given to them by English captain Nasser Hussain. But even skipper Sourav Ganguly conceded it won't be that easy every time especially against a team like South Africa.

The formidable Indian batting line-up will be put to a much tougher test on Wednesday especially since South African pace spearhead Allan Donald is set to return to the team despite an ankle injury.

"We have to play well to win tomorrow. The South Africans are a good side and play as a unit. Particularly, they are a very good bowling side," Ganguly said.

The trio of Donald, Shaun Pollock and Jacques Kallis certainly form a more potent attack than what England had to offer and with Lance Klusener and Makhaya Ntini also likely to play, the five-pronged pace attack can give a lot of headache to the Indian batsmen.

And like India, South African batting also has a lot of depth and the experience. The ability to handle spinners has "improved dramatically", as pointed out by Kallis recently, and that has almost nullified the advantage of teams like India which rely more on spin.

The Indians are certainly pumped up after registering their 12th win in last 16 matches. Ganguly fondly remembered that his side had beaten South Africa in the previous edition of this tournament and hoped to repeat that result on Wednesday.

The Indians are unlikely to disturb their winning combination. The only place up for grabs in this well-balanced side, as pointed out by Ganguly, is the number three position for which Dinesh Mongia and V V S Laxman are contesting.

Laxman's dismissal for four against England seems unlikely to be held against him, with Ganguly already having apologised for the mix-up that led to the stylish batsman's run out, and he would in most probability given another chance on Wednesday.

There seems to be little problem with India's batting right now. All of them are in fine form and among the runs. But Ganguly has expressed concerns over his bowling resources.

The two left-arm seamers, Ashish Nehra and Zaheer Khan who bowled beautifully against England, are probably overworked and there is no one to replace them with. Ajit Agarkar has not been tried out in this tournament so far and he can be an option, especially since he also did pretty well with the bat on the recent England tour.

Ganguly was disappointed that India had allowed England to reach 269 after reducing them to seven for two in the sixth over.

"The bowlers must do better. I have full faith in Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and myself, but the bowlers must back us," he said.

South Africa, on the other hand, would feel more comfortable about their bowling than the batting. Certainly, players like Herschelle Gibbs and Kallis, as also Graeme Smith, have had good hit-outs in the tournament but the loss of form of Klusener as a hard-hitting batsman has been a worrying factor.

Pollock however was not too much worried about Klusener's form, saying his batting resources were good enough. "We are pretty confident, as I think India will also be," he said.

Pollock was also impressed by newcomer Graeme Smith, who has come in place of Gary Kirsten. "Smith has proved to be more than an able replacement."

Asked whether Klusener can be asked to open the innings as he had done in Morocco in the three-nation tournament, Pollock smiled and said, "We may spring a surprise on the Indians tomorrow".

But the South Africans were definitely planning their strategy against Sehwag who belted the English attack on way to his second one-day century on Sunday.

"They played incredibly well," Pollock said referring to the innings of Sehwag and Ganguly who too hit a century in that match.

Donald agreed with his captain's assessment. "They can be devastating. Its going to take a huge effort, a skillful effort from us to pull it off tomorrow," he said.

South Africa have reinforced their squad with fast bowler Steve Elworthy and spinner Robin Peterson to replace the injured Nicky Boje and Alan Dawson but it was unlikely that either of them would figure in Wednesday's match.

Both the captains said winning the toss might not make any big difference in Wednesday's match, but Pollock felt the worn-out track might make batting first a bit more important.

South Africa (from): Shaun Pollock (captain), Herschelle Gibbs, Graeme Smith, Boeta Dippenaar, Jacques Kallis, Jonty Rhodes, Dale Bekenstein, Mark Boucher, Lance Klusener, Makhaya Ntini, Justin Ontong, Allan Donald, Steve Elworthy, Robin Peterson.

India (from): Sourav Ganguly (captain), Virender Sehwag, Dinesh Mongia, V V S Laxman, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Ajit Agarkar, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, J P Yadav.