Bowling remains a worry for India

India and South Africa have not played each other a lot in recent times; unlike say India and England.

However, the Indians will want few changes to the script that was followed during their convincing win over England when they take on South Africa today in the semi-final of the International Cricket Council (ICC) Champions Trophy 2002.

For starters, it's almost certain that India will play an unchanged side. However, that is something that could easily change with the Indians. It's not entirely unusual for the Indian think tank to make a change to the side just as the captain walks out to toss. The one change that is possible, if you stretch the imagination a bit, is that Ajit Agarkar could come into the side in place of VVS Laxman. The Mumbai medium-pacer could be brought in to bolster India's bowling, given that neither Dinesh Mongia nor Laxman have contributed anything special batting at No 3.

The bowlers Ganguly used to fill in as the 'fifth bowler' in the game against England went for 66 off 11 overs. The Indian captain however, on the surface, is not worried about this aspect of India's plans, "Our bowlers just have to bowl better. I have full faith in (Virender) Sehwag, Sachin (Tendulkar), Yuvi (Yuvraj Singh) and myself," said Ganguly.

There is a school of thought that believes in the philosophy, "never change a winning combination," but one is not sure whether Ganguly and John Wright subscribe to this or not. There will surely be no change in the winning philosophy though.

"We'll have to play well to beat South Africa. They're a good side; they're a good one-day unit," began Ganguly, overstating the obvious. The Indian skipper went on in the same vein, "Whoever plays well on the day will win," he said.

The bowling, however, will not be central to India's strategy. It's the explosive batting line-up that will have to do the lion's share of the work as the wickets get progressively lower and slower. Nasser Hussain spoke at length on the way India's batting came at you early on and wrested the initiative.

"I don't think we attack from the start. It's just that Sehwag plays that way in all forms of the game; that's his game and we don't stop him from doing that. It's just that he kept hitting the ball into the gaps," Ganguly observed.

It will not, however, be as easy for Sehwag to go after Shaun Pollock or Allan Donald. Pollock, in particular, should be regarded a threat as he lands the ball on the right line with such unerring accuracy. Sehwag's tendency to fish and flash outside the off stump could work against him if he is not extremely careful in his shot selection.

And it is in such a situation that the key component of this Indian batting line-up would come into the picture. The middle-order will have a lot of work to do if the openers fall early. Sachin Tendulkar, who has spent very little time at the wicket in this tournament, will have to be at his peak. The South Africans are masters at creating pressure after the fall of a wicket and this will be a key factor and bring the lower middle order batsmen Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif into play.

That said, India, though, would love it if this game were only about batting as their bowling department leaves plenty of room for worry.

While Ashish Nehra and Zaheer Khan bowled a fiery spell to kick things off against England, the former has often struggled to be a hundred per cent fit and this is a worry. Zaheer Khan for his part has come forward in leaps and bounds, showing exactly the aggressive attitude that you look for in a fast bowler. Ganguly backs his two spinners to the hilt and it's only a matter of time before they get their act together and make a mark on this tournament. Some of the South African batsmen struggled against quality spin early on and Ganguly will be aware of this fact.

India got past South Africa in the semi-final of the last edition of the Champions Trophy at Nairobi in 2000 quite easily. Ganguly, Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh - the first four batsmen then, added 279 of the 295 runs India made. The captain then used as many as eight bowlers and shared the workload around.

Don't be surprised if you see exactly the same sort of thing happening at the Premadasa Stadium.

Well, with one minor difference - the man they call the butcher of Najafgarh - Virender Sehwag.

Herschelle Gibbs, Graeme Smith, Boeta Dippenaar, Jacques Kallis, Jonty Rhodes, Dale Benkenstein, Justin Ontong, Mark Boucher (wk), Lance Klusener, Shaun Pollock (capt), Nicky Boje, Alan Dawson, Allan Donald, Makhaya Ntini, Steve Elworthy, Robin Peterson.

Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly (capt), Dinesh Mongia, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, Mohammad Kaif, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Jai Prakash Yadav, Ajit Agarkar, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra.