Full-strength India all set to take on England

London, July 12: With Sachin Tendulkar declared "totally fit" to play, India look all set to cap their excellent run in the NatWest triangular one-day series with a victory in the final against England at Lord's here on Saturday.

The injury scare to Tendulkar, who had sustained a minor hamstring strain on way to his 33rd one-day hundred against Sri Lanka yesterday, has blown over with team manager Rajiv Shukla saying he was "absolutely fit" to play on Saturday.

"Tendulkar is 100 per cent fit and he is playing tomorrow," Shukla said, while stressing that there never was any injury to the master batsman.

"There was no injury. It was just as a precautionary measure that Tendulkar did not come out to field in yesterday's match," Shukla said.

Tendulkar had also said yesterday that there was nothing serious and it was just a case of a stiff hamstring.

Nonetheless, the news of Tendulkar's fitness has perked up the Indian camp. There is no under-estimating the importance of tomorrow's game as it is more than two years now since India won a final of a tournament involving three or more teams.

They have had an excellent run in the series so far, surprising even their die-hard critics, but they realise it will be back to square one if they fail to win the final tomorrow.

The point was stressed by none other than Tendulkar himself when he said the team would have to leave behind the successes in league matches and start afresh for the final.

"Saturday is an important day for us. Whatever we have done in this tournament till now, we have to leave it back and start afresh," Tendulkar had said after India's 63-run victory against Sri Lanka yesterday.

"There is nothing like lifting the trophy," he said.

India are perhaps best prepared to set that record straight here. As skipper Sourav Ganguly said this may not be the best ever Indian one-day squad but it certainly was the first time that the Indians had done consistently well on foreign soil.

India come into the final with four victories in six league matches, one of which was abandoned due to rain.

Barring yesterday's easy win against Sri Lanka, all the other victories have come under pressure situations, and more importantly, while chasing, something which the Indians have not been very comfortable doing earlier.

Another remarkable thing is that India are finally clicking as a unit. There have been contributions from every member of the team which has eased the pressure on the likes of Tendulkar.

Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh are in great form, having been associated in match-winning partnerships in two games, and there have been useful contributions from Mohammad Kaif and Virender Sehwag too, though the latter needs to curb his penchant for getting out after being well set.

Dinesh Mongia, who was replaced by V V S Laxman for one match after failing to come up with big scores, also had a good knock yesterday and the only batsman to miss out has been Ganguly.

But Lord's is one of the most memorable grounds for Ganguly who made a dream Test debut here in 1995. In this series too, Ganguly's best score, a confident 43, came at this very ground in India's opening game against England. After that his form dipped and he would surely like to resurrect it in the big match here tomorrow.

India's bowling department is functioning well with the pace trio of Ajit Agarkar, Ashish Nehra and Zaheer Khan proving to be a potent weapon. Ganguly said he expected a bit more from the bowlers, especially from Zaheer Khan who, he said, was yet to give his best.

Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh is most likely to play tomorrow after his four-wicket haul in yesterday's match, which he played only because his senior Anil Kumble sustained a calf muscle injury in the previous game.

On their current form, India look the favourites for the final but one thing niggling them would be the 64-run defeat to England in the penultimate leage match at The Oval, their only loss in the series.

The hosts are brimming with confidence and cannot be under-estimated at any cost. Their batting runs deep and the pace bowlers are doing well. To top it, England have been fielding excellent.

Two men who are key to England's performance are Marcus Trescothick and Andrew Flintoff. Flintoff has had a very good series so far both with the bat and the ball and he is the dangerman for India. So is Trescothick, who has invariably given England flying starts in the league matches.

Nick Knight, Michael Vaughan, skipper Nasser Hussain, Paul Collingwood and Ronnie Irani have also had good knocks to their credit which makes the English batting line-up a formidable one.

England have recalled fast bowler Dominic Cork for the final in place of an injured James Kirtley. Cork is most likely to play tomorrow alongside Darren Gough and Alex Tudor.

Both teams are yet to announce their final eleven.

Teams (from):

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