India in search of Elusive Win

Irfan Pathan should be given opportunity in Second T20I at Melbourne

Tomorrow’s Second T20I at the Melbourne Cricket Ground should be a perfect opportunity for Team India to give some valuable match practice for all-rounder Irfan Pathan. While it will be unfair to drop either of Praveen Kumar or R Vinay Kumar, India could rest Rahul Sharma who had split his webbing while trying to take a return catch that was smashed back to him by Travis Birt in the First T20I at Sydney. Irfan Pathan should be picked in Rahul Sharma’s place.                                                        
With not much of pace at his disposal, Irfan Pathan depends on helpful pitch conditions which he is bound to find in Australia. Irfan Pathan, who made an international comeback during the One Day Series against West Indies showed that he was getting his late inswing back in his repertoire. The left-armer hasn’t still got back to his full pace though which he was possessing during his maiden tour of Australia in 2003/04.


Despite being out of the Indian team in most of the formats for a long time, Irfan Pathan continues to have a good fan following, some of them for his good looks while some of them are for the promise that he has to be a rare all-rounder in Indian Cricket. The Team Management will be more than happy if Irfan Pathan can deliver the goods especially with the ball as his batting has always been very good lower dowm the order.

The 27-year-old Irfan Pathan has so far played 29 Tests taking 100 wickets, 108 ODIs taking 154 wickets and 16 T20Is taking 16 wickets along with some solid batting performances.
Team news

Australia: George Bailey (capt), David Warner, Travis Birt, Daniel Christian, Xavier Doherty, James Faulkner, Aaron Finch, David Hussey, Brett Lee, Clint McKay, Mitchell Marsh, Shaun Marsh, Matthew Wade and Brad Hogg.

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Parthiv Patel, Rahul Sharma, Zaheer Khan, Ravichandran Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Praveen Kumar, Vinay Kumar, Irfan Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja and Manoj Tiwary.

Umpires: Bruce Oxenford and Paul Reiffel

Match referee: Andy Pycroft.

Pitch and conditions

The drop-in pitches at the MCG are not renowned for pace, but the local batsman David Hussey expects "a very good batting wicket, a fast wicket". The forecast for Melbourne is a sunny day with a high temperature of 27C.

Stats and trivia

• Matthew Wade has played three Twenty20s for Australia and already has a Man-of-the-Match award, but is yet to take a catch behind the stumps - mainly because none have come his way.
• Should India lose at the MCG it will equal their longest losing streak in Twenty20 internationals - four.

Final Word: 
India are rapidly descending into caricatures on this tour, and it's a feeling that no sportsman likes. There is only one way to avoid it, and that is by performing on the field. The tour desperately needs a turn-around and a semblance of some competition for India, and with many of the personnel remaining the same for the ODIs that follow, the time to set a different course is now.

Quotes

"I thought the Indians came out and fielded and bowled particularly well early. I just thought our bowling and fielding trumped theirs."
David Hussey on Wednesday's win

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