The batting prowess of Sachin Tendulkar looms like a colossus over the World Cup cricket tournament, which commences in England May 14. Only that can explain the fact that despite not playing any cricket for the last two months, Sachin’s very inclusion in the Indian squad has taken the Indian side from the status of “underdogs” to that of the “dark horse” as far as analysts and commentators are concerned.

It is Sachin’s dominating stature that has upped the Indian team’s backing even among the punters. And, Wisden has ventured to classify India as the most-well-balanced side capable of winning the tournament.

Sachin Tendulkar’s reputation has acquired such awesome proportions that, despite nursing an injured back, he is favored to become the highest run-accumulator during the upcoming World Cup. It is being said that Sachin stands the best chance of bettering the record of scoring the highest number of runs in the World Cup matches, currently held by Javed Miandad of Pakistan.

Sachin already holds the record of having made the highest aggregate of runs in a single World Cup, by virtue of his scintillating batting in the 1996 World Cup. In that tournament, Sachin had made 523 runs in seven matches at an astounding average of 87.17 runs.

Of course, many analysts are of the opinion that the South African team, led by Hansie Cronje, is by far the best of the twelve teams participating in cricket’s most prestigious tournament. The strength of the South African squad lies in the fact that all its players can bat, it is argued. The abundance of all-rounders in the team provides depth to both the batting and the bowling.

The South African fielding is exceptional and cuts off at least thirty runs, which would have accrued to the opposition if the fielding were only average. Jonty Rhodes, the live wire, alone cuts off several boundaries and turns twos into singles and singles into dot balls. And, opener Hershelle Gibbs is emerging as another Jonty Rhodes as far as fielding is concerned.

The Indian team’s first league encounter will be with the formidable South Africans. Of course, a more incisive analysis will reveal that having a great depth in batting, like South Africa possesses, is actually a waste. After all, the team will play only fifty overs and there is no point in having batsmen who will not have a chance to bat. In the South African team, batsmen of the caliber of Shaun Pollock and Lance Klusener, who are also specialist bowlers, come way down the batting order.

However, the South African batting lineup has, on occasion, displayed a strange tendency of collapsing, especially in crunch situations in big matches. Then, the team does not possess batsmen of the caliber of Tendulkar, Dravid, Ganguly and Azhar, who can both launch an assault as well as consolidate an innings. Darrell Cullinan and Jacques Kallis are distinguished batsmen, but can not perform every time.

Thus, if Sachin Tendulkar comes good with his batting and a few batsmen to follow contribute with the bat, the South African batting advantage can be nullified. And, the Indian batting line-up, which includes the likes of Saurav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Azharuddin and Ajay Jadeja besides Sachin Tendulkar, have the capacity of batting the opposition out of the match.

Yes, South Africa has the services of Alan Donald, one of the fastest bowlers in the game today, who also has loads of killer instinct. And, Shaun Pollock who swings the ball both ways, is a contender for being the top wicket taker of this tournament. Pollock also has the advantage of being extremely economical.

The presence of Lance Klusener and Cronje himself, besides the bowling ability of virtually the entire team, provides a lot of options to the captain. Little wonder, Cronje has an enviable wins-to-losses ratio as a captain.

But, again, Sachin Tendulkar is the variable that can be discounted in view of the South African bowling attack. If he sees the ball well, he will play the “see it, hit it” version of the game, and make mincemeat of the bowling attack. Tendulkar has the ability of taking a bowler apart and completely demoralizing him by hitting him out of the game. Of late, one has seen even Rahul Dravid adopt this tactic and one remembers him giving this treatment to Alan Donald. Clearly, the South African bowling will find that the Indians will give them as good as they get.

It would then be upto the Indian bowlers to deliver the goods. It must be remembered that in the 1983 World Cup that India won with Kapil Dev as skipper, the Indian batting did not make big scores. But, no matter what score the batsmen made, the bowlers were able to skittle out the opposition for less than that.

The pitches and weather conditions in England in May-June, it is being said, will be quite helpful to the Indian swing bowlers, including Prasad, Srinath, Agarkar and Ganguly. One recalls that when India toured England in 1996, both Prasad and Srinath gave nightmares to the English batting.

It is being said that the pitches will not provide purchase to the spin of Anil Kumble. But, Kumble is an innovative, thinking bowler, and should find a way to remain relevant even in adverse conditions. The services of Tendulkar, Ajay Jadeja and others may be utilized for completing the bowling attack.

Thus, the only department in which the South African advantage will be crucial will be fielding, and it may be a deciding advantage. Also, Azhar will have to put his best foot forward to match the captaincy of Cronje. Cronje has the added advantage of the services of Coach Bob Woolmer on his laptop. This laptop has the strength and weakness of all players in its memory, aiding Woolmer to become the master-strategician.

Of course, positive captaincy, attitude and body language can transform the India team into an excellent fielding side. With the former Australian captain, Bobby Simpson, now providing consultation to the Indian side, this weakness may be largely rectified.

The Indian team is peaking at the right time. The absence of Sachin Tendulkar from the Indian eleven for a couple of months has been a blessing in disguise. The team is no longer overly dependent on this master-blaster. It is no longer a one-man-army. Consequently, it will not do for the opposition to adopt the strategy of getting Sachin out of the way and then storm the Indian fort.

In a way, it is good for the Indian team that the clash with the South Africans will be in India’s opening league match. The lessons learnt in this encounter will come in handy if and when the two meet in the winner-take-all knock out stage of the tournament.

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