GoodBye Tri-Series!!!

For one last time, the 29-yr old one day tri-series gets underway at Brisbane, Australia on Sunday with the world champions (Aus) taking on the 20-20 champs (India). Australia, India and Srilanka( the 3rd team) bid farewell to a tournament which has entertained the cricket crazy Aussie crowd through much of their summer over the last 30 years.

This is a tournament that I have followed closely from 1991-92 and I have watched Australia dominate on most ocassions and that is probably one reason why the authorities want to get rid of this format. I also feel that the tournament is too long with each team playing the other two teams four times over a period of one month. This format needs a re-think, especially at a time when 20-20 cricket has caught the attention of the authorities and the crowd in recent times.

Looking ahead to the game on Sunday, both teams have injury concerns with Ponting and Hayden being doubtful starters for Australia while India will miss the services of Yuvraj. For Australia, Noffke has been named the replacement for Stuart Clark who is at Sydney due to personal reasons and Adam Voges has been named as the standby for Ricky and Haydos just in case they don't make it on time. Even without Ricky and Haydos, Australian batting looks formidable with Gilli annd Clarke on top and Symonds and Hussey in the middle. The bowling line-up is bit of a weakling with just Lee and Bracken being the familiar names and if one of them has a bad day then Australia could well be in trouble. The likes of James Hopes, Brad Hogg and the inexperienced Noffke do not pose a threat to any batting line up, let alone India.

The Indian selectors have gone in for fresh and fast legs and it will be interesting to see how quickly the youngsters adjust to the playing conditions in Australia. India's batting once again depends heavily on Sachin and he will look to Sehwag and to a certain extent Dhoni for support. Sachin may well play at 3 or 4 with Gambhir joining Sehwag on top. The middle order looks weak without Yuvraj and I am eagerly awaiting to see how the Indian middle order performs in Australian conditions. Going by friday night's 20-20 performance, none of the younsters give me confidence that they have the technique or patience to play 50 overs. In the bowling department, Irfan Pathan looks likely to share the new ball with the erratic Sreesanth. The promising Ishant Sharma and the inexperienced Praveen Kumar (if he plays in the eleven) will try to keep things tight in the middle overs. It has been raining at Brisbane and the forecast is for more rain. Both India and Australia might well end up fielding an all pace attack.

After a closely contested test series where Australia just managed to get the better of India and a 20-20 that India would look to forget, the stage is set for the two teams to kick-off the tri-series. So without further delay, Let the Games Begin!!!