India have too much firepower for Holland's comfort

Bells shall chime ever more vigorously and fervent prayers shall rend the air, for on Wednesday, the world's most populous cricketing nation renews its quest for the ultimate quadrennial glory.

If the collective passion of their supporters was to be the sole criterion for success in this most seminal of one-day events, Sourav Ganguly's men would have brooked no competition when it came to laying their hands on the US$ 2 million prize set aside for the winner. But unfortunately for them, their path to the World Cup is not that smoothly paved. To get onto the winner's podium come March 23, the Men in Blue will have to address the small matter of knocking over teams of the calibre of Australia, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and a rejuvenated West Indies, among others. Before that, though, there is the relatively piffling ritual of winning the opener against the Netherlands.

Roland Lefebvre's team will be the first to agree that, man for the man, they are no match for their opponents, whose batting and bowling firepower can blow them apart many times over. In fact in a candid pre-match press-conference, Lefebvre admitted that his team's campaign "is going to be extremely difficult. We don't want to be annihilated by the top countries. We want to go home with a win, hopefully against Namibia, which is the closest we can get to." Fielding is perhaps the only area in which the two teams stand on an almost even keel, but its impact will be minimal in the context.

This being the case, the Indians cannot be blamed for considering Wednesday's encounter to be a stroll in the park, an easy flexing-of-the-muscle routine. But Indian skipper Ganguly, for one, is not taking the match lightly. "The opening two games (against Holland and Australia) are absolutely vital. It will give us a fair idea and it could put us on a roll," he said in one of his press conferences ahead of the tournament.

Ganguly should know; he is one among many Indian batsmen who expect to put a disastrous New Zealand tour behind them and regain their run-scoring touch. A shock defeat in the second and final warm-up game against Kwa-Zulu Natal has not helped, and consequently the need to win a few matches on the trot and build fresh momentum has become all the greater.

With this being the ground reality, India would ideally like to bat first and register a big score when the match finally gets underway at Paarl. Boland Park holds sweet memories for Ganguly's men, as it was here that they posted one of their highest ODI totals ever - 351 for three against Kenya in 2001. On that occasion, Sachin Tendulkar made 148, which incidentally remains the highest ODI score at the venue.

A repeat - or an even better performance - this time around would truly put the team in the right frame of mind for the all-important second clash against Australia on Saturday . In case the script is not followed and India are made to field first, an easy and clinical victory would still be desired.

When it comes to the team, six batsmen and three bowlers - Javagal Srinath, Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh - pick themselves. The remaining two slots will see a toss-up between Ajit Agarkar, Sanjay Bangar, Ashish Nehra and Anil Kumble.

The weather at Paarl is set fair for the game. With Sachin Tendulkar needing just 26 runs to become the highest scorer in World Cups and Srinath needing one wicket to get to 300 ODI wickets, there are many interesting sidelights that could prevent the match from turning into a drab affair. Another item to wait for is Harbhajan Singh's mystery ball, one he has been supposedly perfecting for long.

India: Sourav Ganguly (captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Harbhajan Singh, Javagal Srinath, Zaheer Khan, Ajit Agarkar, Sanjay Bangar, Ashish Nehra, Anil Kumble, Dinesh Mongia, Parthiv Patel

The Netherlands: Roland Lefebvre (captain), Luke van Troost, Jacob-Jan Esmeijer, Tim de Leede, Feiko Kloppenburg, Hendrik-Jan Mol, Ruud Nijman, Klaas van Noortwijk, Adeel Raja, Edger Schiferli, Reinout Scholte, Jeroen Smits, Nick Statham, Bas Zuiderent, Daan van Bunge