India hope to dominate Zimbabwe

India hope to win over their critics after two disappointing series against England when they take on Zimbabwe in a two-Test series, starting on Thursday.

Despite winning 1-0, India fell short of an anticipated clean sweep against England in their three-Test series, and were held to a 3-3 draw in the one-day series which followed.

"We have to play positively and try to win the two Tests," Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly said ahead of the first Test in Nagpur.

Ganguly is pinning his hopes on leg spinner Anil Kumble and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh but his two slow bowlers could again be hampered by the poor glovework of Deep Dasgupta, who has been retained as wicketkeeper despite a series of errors against England.

The hosts expect to include 28-year-old all-rounder Sanjay Bangar for his second Test in place of middle-order batsman Virender Sehwag and provide a third seamer alongside Javagal Srinath and Zaheer Khan.

Comparing his team with the one that struggled to beat Zimbabwe 1-0 in their last two-Test series in 2000, Ganguly said: "We are a much stronger team this time."

On that tour, prolific Zimbabwe left-hander Andy Flower amassed 540 runs from four innings which included unbeaten knocks of 232 in Nagpur and 183 in the first Test in New Delhi.

INDIAN PRESSURE

Ganguly himself is under pressure to rediscover his form with the bat after managing just 68 runs in four innings against England.

The Indian media recently slammed his re-appointment as skipper, comparing it to the axing of Steve Waugh as Australia's one-day captain after the world champions lost a tri-series at home.

Vangipurappu Laxman is also struggling to live up to expectations after his record innings of 281 sparked an Indian comeback 2-1 home series win over Australia early last year.

TOUGH JOB

Zimbabwe face a tough job to lift themselves after their capitulation to spin in Sri Lanka, where off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan claimed a series haul of 30 wickets.

A dry and barren pitch in Nagpur is expected to break in the later stages and visiting skipper Stuart Carlisle wants his top-order batsmen to contribute more consistently if Zimbabwe are to compete against the Indian spin duo.

"One or two of us played Murali pretty well," he said. "But the majority didn't. I'm looking for a vast improvement in facing the spinners."

The tourists will also hope that Andy Flower regains his best batting form, after totalling just 80 runs in six innings in Sri Lanka.

Flower, who made 94 in his side's drawn three-day tour game against an Indian Board President's XI, will be excused his wicket-keeping duties in India with teenager Tatendu Taibu taking over behind the stumps.

NEGATIVE TACTICS

Carlisle warned his team may borrow some of the tactics used by England such as left-arm spinner Ashley Giles' successful run-denying leg-stump line to top batsman Sachin Tendulkar.

"I believe... there might have been some negative tactics, but maybe on the fourth or fifth day (of a test) those kind of tactics can actually be positive and I'd probably use them," he said.

The squads:

India - Sourav Ganguly (captain), Shiv Sundar Das, Deep Dasgupta, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Vangipurappu Laxman, Sanjay Bangar, Harbhajan Singh, Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath, Zaheer Khan, Virender Sehwag, Tinu Yohannan.

Zimbabwe - Stuart Carlisle (captain), Trevor Gripper, Gavin Rennie, Andy Flower, Grant Flower, Craig Wishart, Alistair Campbell, Tatendu Taibu, Heath Streak, Raymond Price, Travis Friend, Brighton Watambwa.

Umpires - David Shepherd (England) and Srinivas Venkatraghavan.

Match referee - John Reid (New Zealand).

Mail Cricket Editor