Sachin form fuels India fire

BELFAST, June 30: If character is shaped by adversity, then Rahul Dravid and his men ought to be as tough as granite.
Struggling to field eleven fit players, and forced to call for reinforcements, India did wonderfully well to stop South Africa in their stride. And riding on the brilliance of Sachin Tendulkar, the Indians are now oozing with confidence ahead of their deciding game of the Future Cup series on Sunday.
"We didn't have the ideal preparation.Some of our players were struggling to get fit while rain denied us of any practice going into the game. But the boys have not complained. They have gone out and played some good cricket," said the proud Indian skipper.
Of course, when someone like Sachin Tendulkar fires at the top of the order, it does sound the alarm bells for the opposition. "It was an unbelievable knock Sachin played. He looked extremely dangerous," said South African skipper Jacques Kallis, who is keen to field his best side for the final game.
South Africa were without their express pace bowler, Dale Steyn, who was down with flu, and explosive striker Justin Kemp, who missed the first two games due to a leg injury. "Dale's come a long way and looks good. Justin (Kemp) has been having treatment and hopefully by Sunday we'll have a full squad to choose from," said Kallis.
While both Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly combined effectively to put up a three-figure partnership at the top of the order, it could so easily have been curtains for India had Yuvraj Singh and Dinesh Karthik not batted sensibly. "Yuvraj's role as a finisher has been important. He has been pretty useful for us in the death overs in recent times and he is enjoying that role again," Dravid said.
With the spinners doing a good job, India will go in with two spinners in Ramesh Powar and Piyush Chawla. Besides, there is a chance for Ajit Agarkar to come in place of Ishant Sharma.