Team India has the energy to beat SA, says S. Kannan
The key against South Africa could well be how Dhoni uses Ashwin and Jadeja. The Indian spinners will pose a strong challenge at the MCG, which has huge boundaries.
It seems the folks who did the scheduling of matches for the ICC World Cup Down Under chose two Sundays especially for India. One potentially tricky opponent - if Pakistan could be called so - was flattened in Adelaide a week ago and now it's time for India to set the record straight against the much-hyped South Africans.
Last week, the growing breed of cricket statisticians pointed out that India's record against Pakistan was hard to beat in the World Cup and the same wise men are telling us the South Africans are very strong on paper.
Agreed, when you look at a batting line-up comprising A.B. de Villiers, Faf du Plessis, David Miller, J.P. Duminy and Quinton de Kock, you know how tough it is going to be for M.S. Dhoni's bowlers. Not to forget, there is Hashim Amla who, as an anchor, knows how to pace himself well.
And we are also told the blistering pace of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel can beat the Indian batting into pulp. I would tend to take all this with a pinch of salt as statisticians and the average expert have the habit of exaggerating things a bit too much.
Had India flopped against Pakistan last Sunday, it could have been a different story. The way the Indian team played in the first outing is proof the adrenaline is flowing and what had happened in the first two months in Australia during the Tests and tri-series has nothing to do with the present.
On Saturday, when vice-captain Virat Kohli talked to the media sporting a 'Ronaldo' hair cut, you knew he was speaking from the heart. The champion batsman spoke about beautiful friendship existing between the Indians and the South Africans courtesy the IPL dressing rooms.
The Melbourne Cricket Ground will be a cauldron on Sunday, and there will be no dearth of Indian fans. 'Bleed Blue' could look even better if the Indians can change the script, as in the previous three meetings in Adelaide (1992), Hove (1999) and Nagpur (2011) in World Cups, India had lost to the Proteas.
A few years ago, people would have dismissed it as rubbish if you mentioned that India could take on the South Africans in equal measure in a cricket World Cup contest. Times have changed and, as Kohli said, this team is trying hard to sustain its intensity.
Right now, nobody is talking about whether or not the Indian team will make it to the quarterfinals. The emphasis is now on defeating a side which has promised so much in the past on the big stage and never lived up to it.
If you talk of handling pressure well, this Indian team has the ability to stay cool, though a question mark does hang on the bowling abilities. The Indian fast bowlers know they have to pitch the ball up as anything less than that will be treated with contempt by the South Africans.
Then again, the key on Sunday could well be how Dhoni uses spinners R. Ashwin and possibly Ravindra Jadeja. The South Africans beat Zimbabwe in the first match and are aware that at the MCG, the boundary is so huge the Indian spinners will provide sufficient challenge.
To be sure, if India are keeping a relative low profile and focusing on each match with seriousness, sub-continental neighbours Pakistan have faced acute embarrassment. Losing to India will always be difficult to digest but to get whacked black and blue by the West Indies in Christchurch was a sad sight.
There are quite a few problems for the Pakistanis. They no longer look tricky and discipline is a big issue for them. Reports of some star players misbehaving with fielding coach Grant Luden after the loss to India made bad headlines.
But the bigger issue is how Pakistan cricket has been in turmoil for such a long time. The internal politics in the Pakistan Cricket Board have done no good to the team and selection glitches are pronounced.
If India made the right decision in leaving out ageing stars like Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Yuvraj Singh and out-of-form Gautam Gambhir, Pakistan have wrongly stuck to the oldies.
Modern-day cricket is as much about skills as it is about fitness. Skipper Misbah-ul-Haq is 40, Younis Khan is 37 and Shahid Afridi turns 35 next month (officially!) but having a few other 30-plus players like Sohail Khan and Mohammad Irfan is not helping them.
To write Pakistan off at this stage would be foolhardy for two reasons. The format of this World Cup is long drawn and, even in 1992 when Imran Khan led the side to victory in the World Cup, the start was slippery.
This edition of the World Cup is just over a week old but it has already thrown up some interesting results. While Ireland have caught the eye, England have plummeted to abysmal depths of despair.
There is still a lot of cricket to be played but Sunday's contest featuring India and South Africa is something fans are waiting for eagerly in Melbourne and in India.
s.kannan@mailtoday.in