Yahoonews, Sunandan Lele, 24 September 2009
Indian team is fighting against odds. Before coming to South Africa they already were missing services of two frontline players in Zaheer Khan and Virender Sehwag.
Now just before their first match against archrivals Pakistan, Indian team has lost one more important player in Yuvraj Singh. Yuvraj broke his little finger during the course of fielding practice session. Indian team is preparing for the Saturday's match which is major attraction of this year's ICC Champions Trophy.
Team landed in Johannesburg on 17th September. Indian team played just one practice match in Potchefstroom. Team is lacking cutting edge in fielding department and Indian bowlers are not in top form. Captain MS Dhoni was quite candid in accepting the fact that his side is not recognized for fielding skills.
Dhoni's main worry is bowling department. All the bowlers were taken to task in triangular tournament played in Sri Lanka. Only Harbhajan Singh took 5 wickets and showed real character in the final match of the triangular tournament. In the recent past, Yuvraj was becoming dependable left arm spinner who can bowl few overs with confidence.
"Sub ko out kar dunga... (will get all of them out)," Yuvraj use to tell us with wink in his eyes. Now Dhoni will miss that vital link in the middle overs.
When Pakistan team coach Intikhab Alam was asked about Yuvraj he said, "I know Yuvraj well as I was coach of Punjab team. He is extremely talented cricketer. I have observed that he was taking his bowling quite seriously. He was becoming man with the golden arm for Indian team. Indian team will certainly miss Yuvi's services."
Relations between media and Indian team are not in pink of health. Gary Kirsten and Paddy Upton's confidential reports broke out in Indian news paper. In the meanwhile Indian team is maintaining very thoughtful distance with the media.
Other than mandatory interaction planned by the ICC, they have refused to have any dialogue with the media. Team is just concentrating on big match preparation. Indian team takes on Pakistan on Saturday. This match is going to be main attraction of ICC Champions Trophy 09.
All the tickets are already sold and cricket fans are going to come from countries like Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique and Botswana.
"No surprise for me", said Intikhab Alam. "All of us know what Indian-Pakistan match is all about. Even though Indian team is missing 3 major names from their list, but still I refuse to accept that Indian side is weak. They still have some great match winners in their side and I respect f them. I only can say that my team is in good shape and we have combination to take on Indian team in all important match to be played on Saturday."
They say that 'tough gets going when going gets tough'. Same way Indian team members are planning to put up professional performance in the ICC Champions Trophy 09.
Indian team is fighting against odds. Before coming to South Africa they already were missing services of two frontline players in Zaheer Khan and Virender Sehwag.
Now just before their first match against archrivals Pakistan, Indian team has lost one more important player in Yuvraj Singh. Yuvraj broke his little finger during the course of fielding practice session. Indian team is preparing for the Saturday's match which is major attraction of this year's ICC Champions Trophy.
Team landed in Johannesburg on 17th September. Indian team played just one practice match in Potchefstroom. Team is lacking cutting edge in fielding department and Indian bowlers are not in top form. Captain MS Dhoni was quite candid in accepting the fact that his side is not recognized for fielding skills.
Dhoni's main worry is bowling department. All the bowlers were taken to task in triangular tournament played in Sri Lanka. Only Harbhajan Singh took 5 wickets and showed real character in the final match of the triangular tournament. In the recent past, Yuvraj was becoming dependable left arm spinner who can bowl few overs with confidence.
"Sub ko out kar dunga... (will get all of them out)," Yuvraj use to tell us with wink in his eyes. Now Dhoni will miss that vital link in the middle overs.
When Pakistan team coach Intikhab Alam was asked about Yuvraj he said, "I know Yuvraj well as I was coach of Punjab team. He is extremely talented cricketer. I have observed that he was taking his bowling quite seriously. He was becoming man with the golden arm for Indian team. Indian team will certainly miss Yuvi's services."
Relations between media and Indian team are not in pink of health. Gary Kirsten and Paddy Upton's confidential reports broke out in Indian news paper. In the meanwhile Indian team is maintaining very thoughtful distance with the media.
Other than mandatory interaction planned by the ICC, they have refused to have any dialogue with the media. Team is just concentrating on big match preparation. Indian team takes on Pakistan on Saturday. This match is going to be main attraction of ICC Champions Trophy 09.
All the tickets are already sold and cricket fans are going to come from countries like Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique and Botswana.
"No surprise for me", said Intikhab Alam. "All of us know what Indian-Pakistan match is all about. Even though Indian team is missing 3 major names from their list, but still I refuse to accept that Indian side is weak. They still have some great match winners in their side and I respect f them. I only can say that my team is in good shape and we have combination to take on Indian team in all important match to be played on Saturday."
They say that 'tough gets going when going gets tough'. Same way Indian team members are planning to put up professional performance in the ICC Champions Trophy 09.
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