Barely four days back, the Indian team was in another continent, playinganother series, in another format of the game. Their hectic schedule andlack of preparation, coupled with their lack of experience in the Twenty20format, means not many are giving them much chance of making it into thelast four. That could work to their advantage, though, and a win in theopener against Scotland on Thursday will ensure they make it to the SuperEights. It was a hurdle they couldn’t surmount in the Caribbean earlierthis year, but it’s highly unlikely that Scotland can do aBangladesh on India.Bat play: Mahendra Singh Dhoni didn’t reveal much about teamcomposition in the pre-match talk, which means guessing the XI is a bit ofa hazard. The batting line-up will surely consist of Virender Sehwag,who’ll have plenty to prove after his recent absence, Robin Uthappa,Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Dinesh Karthik might get a look-inahead of Gautam Gambhir, while Irfan Pathan and Joginder Sharma couldbolster the lower order.Scotland’s top order, bar Fraser Watts, the opener, misfired badly, butthey have another opportunity to make amends.Wrecking ball: India do have plenty of bowling options, but in theabsence of Zaheer Khan, the challenge is for one of them to rise andtake up the mantle of being the leader of the pack. Ajit Agarkar has beentoo inconsistent to inspire any confidence, while Sreesanth has beenblow-hot, blow-cold throughout his short career. That leaves themuch-improved RP Singh as the potential leader, while Irfan Pathan willwant to make a strong statement on his return as well. It remains to beseen how much of an influence the spinners will have.Scotland’s new-ball bowlers were very impressive against Pakistan, andaided by their top-class fielders in conditions that could help thebowlers, they could ask a few searching questions of the Indian batsmen.Keep your eyes on: Virender Sehwag. The exclusion from the teamwould have hit him hard, and he’ll want to take every opportunity to provehe is still one of the most destructive batsmen in world cricket.Shop talk: To bat first or to chase is the perennial question forthe captain winning the toss, but Dhoni had little doubt about what hewould do if the coin fell his way. “A lot depends on the conditions but wewould probably love to bat first. It’s always better to bat first, andsince batting is also our strength, we would like to give the opponents abig total. Also there is a lot more pressure when chasing big totals.”His other mantra is to keep it conventional and simple. “If you’ve seenlast evening’s game between South Africa and the West Indies, they playedproper cricketing shots. I think it’s important to play it as a normalcricket match. The stress would be on playing conventional cricket and notdoing anything extraordinary.”Pitching it right: The weather should be fine, but strong windscould help the bowlers move it around a bit, though control could be anissue here. The track has shown a tendency to hold up occasionally, makingstrokeplay a trifle difficult.Teams
India (from): Virender Sehwag, Robin Uthappa, Gautam Gambhir,Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Karthik, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt &wk), Joginder Sharma, Irfan Pathan, Yusuf Pathan, Ajit Agarkar, PiyushChawla, Harbhajan Singh, RP Singh, Sreesanth.Scotland (from): Ryan Watson (capt), Fraser Watts, Dougie Brown,John Blain, Gavin Hamilton, Navdeep Poonia, Gregor Maiden, Neil McCallum,Qasim Sheikh, Colin Smith (wk), Craig Wright, Dewald Nel, Gordon Drummond,Ross Lyons, Majid Haq.

Ere Sheshiah, the Jamaican government pathologist who performed the post-mortem examination on Bob Woolmer, came under criticism on the tenth day of the inquest in Kingston for not following accepted international practices.Sheshiah was asked by Jermaine Spence, the attorney representing the International Cricket Council, why should anyone accept his findings that Woolmer died of asphyxia and pesticide poisoning. “I have already told the court of my opinion, so I am not deviating,” Sheshiah replied.Sheshiah was criticised for not adhering to international practices from three overseas pathologists, who reviewed the post-mortem findings. The trio said they believed Woolmer died of natural causes, probably related to heart disease.Sheshaiah originally said Woolmer’s hyoid bone was fractured, which suggested the former England player was strangled.When shown an X-ray last week, Sheshiah had admitted he made a mistake, but insisted the hyoid bone in a 58-year-old man doesn’t have to be broken to prove he was strangled.”The person who examines the bone can say whether it’s broken, not somebody who analyzes a photo,” he said.Sheshiah stuck to what he said regarding the cause of the death last week. “My final opinion is it was asphyxia, associated with cypermethrin [a pesticide] poisoning.”Last week, a Jamaican forensic analyst testified that toxicology results showed conflicting results on the presence of pesticide in Woolmer’s blood and urine.The inquest, presided over by coroner Patrick Murphy and 11 jurors, is expected to end on November 9. Three members of the ICC have sat in on the inquest since it started on October 16.

Duncan Fletcher says he is happy to speak to Andrew Flintoff, but will not be the first one to pick up the phone. In his controversial autobiography, Fletcher has said that he felt let down by Flintoff’s behaviour as England captain, comments which have hurt Flintoff, according to his father Colin.Fletcher, though remains unrepentant about his comments, saying that loyalty is a two-way street and in his latest interview, this time for the , he said Flintoff must call him. “I think it is important that Andrew rings me.”If Andrew phones me we will have a discussion and clear the air, put both sides of the story across. There are certain things that I can’t disclose. It would be important that he phones me.”Fletcher added that Flintoff should still have the chance to captain his country once more. “I don’t think there is any reason why it should be held against him,” he said. “There are a lot of factors at picking a captain. If a situation arises where there is no one else then you have got to really look at Andrew.”He needs some experience. He is a very inexperienced captain in cricket, let alone Test cricket. But as long as he has learned from his mistakes, why hold it against him?”

At least four England supporters suffered minor injuries on the final day of the first Test at Kandy, when the corrugated-iron roof of their stand blew off in high winds and landed on the seats below. According to eye-witnesses, one male supporter was taken to hospital with a gash to his chest, while three others suffered minor cuts and bruises.”To be honest, I’m feeling nervous sitting here,” said Steve Lindley, an England fan out here for all three Tests, who was hit in the small of the back by the falling sheets of iron. He and his fellow fans had been sitting in the special enclosure at the Hunnasgiriya End of the ground, which was quickly evacuated after the incident.”There was no real sign that they were going to come off,” Lindley told Cricinfo. “We were looking towards another stand where they were starting to blow off, but then there was a gust and three sheets all came off together. They came straight down onto the group of us sitting there.”One girl was taken for a medical check-up after receiving a gash to her shin, while another male supporter cut his leg on a concrete support in the rush to clear the seats. None of the injuries arebelieved to be serious, but Lindley intended to get a check-up during the lunch interval. “My back is quite sore now, and if at any point it gets worse … you never know with bruising.”The area was soon cleared, as local maintenance men set about removing the other loose sheets on the roof. “They went up there with bare feet, no safety equipment, and just dropped them down,” said Lindley. “One lad nearly dropped a sheet on his mate. There was no regard forsafety. “

Andrew Hilditch, the chairman of selectors, has given Brad Hogg a Boxing Day boost by saying the Australian team has better balance when it has a spinner. Hogg is the next slow-bowling option following Stuart MacGill’s withdrawal for wrist surgery, but the case for playing four fast men has been considered by the coach Tim Nielsen.Hilditch said they would look at that option only if the wicket was suitable. The MCG drop-in pitch played low and slow in the Victoria-New South Wales Pura Cup game and a similar surface would further improve Hogg’s prospects.”Test cricket is generally better with a make-up of a quality spinner, particularly going into a third, fourth or fifth day,” Hilditch said in the Courier-Mail. “But I don’t think we’ve ever been adverse to the concept.”I don’t think it’s any secret that Australian cricket generally would prefer to go in with a spinner to give us the balance we need. Brad Hogg will do an excellent job if he is chosen.”Nielsen said Hogg had the best claims on a spot in the final XI because he was in the squad for the first Test against Sri Lanka. “That is an indication and you would expect he is the next cab off the rank,” Nielsen said in the Sydney Morning Herald. “But Hoggy needs to keep working hard.”It’s the four best bowlers for the conditions we are faced with. In the ideal set-up, we have got a frontline spinner and we would certainly like to have one in the squad, I’m sure, but we will have to sit down in Melbourne and see what the wicket looks like.”

ScorecardRiding on a 104 by opener Shreevats Goswami, India Under-19 scored 280 for 6 and restricted Bangladesh U-19 to 150 for 7 to register their second win of the tournament.Goswami, who had scored 97 in the previous match against South Africa, hit nine fours in his 134-ball knock and allowed India to post a second successive 250-plus total. He was ably supported by the middle order, especially Virat Kohli, India’s captain, who scored a 34-ball 54 with the help of three fours and four sixes. Of the eight bowlers tried by Bangladesh, only Rubel Hossain was able to trouble the batsmen and was duly rewarded with three wickets.Bangladesh’s task of overhauling India’s total was made stiffer with the revised target of 217 from 33 overs. Losing Rony Takulder in the first over, Bangladesh recovered to reach 86 for 1 by the 17th over. A flurry of wickets from then onwards saw them fall behind the asking rate and they finished 67 runs behind the target at the end of the 33rd over.