Graeme Swann has had to play down the buzz associated with his autobiography, in which he has questioned the captaincy credentials of his former skipper, Kevin Pietersen. Now, he is busy calming the frayed media columnists down, who have put the whitewash’s blame on Swann’s broad shoulders.
This at a time when England was unveiled as the number one ranked T20I side, a news that comes with a rider that a loss to India in the one-off at the Eden Gardens, will pull them down to the third. Really then, this should be an important fixture.
Only that it comes at the back of a five-match ODI series that failed to impress the crowds despite the hosts running away to their second 5-0 win in as many years. And despite the one-sided nature of most contests. And so, questions are being asked about whether the T20I will attract the otherwise cricket-crazy city of Kolkata enough to fill the stands.
To enthral those who do make it to the ground, would be the potentially explosive combination of Robin Uthappa and Yusuf Pathan, walking into the playing 11 for the game today. While Uthappa should make it to the side at the expense of the recently-wed Gautam Gambhir, Pathan’s inclusion could need one of the established faces from the young brigade to make way. It will be a tough call for the captain MS Dhoni to make.
England will be led by Swann and the boot will be on the other foot. How he leads them in this game may not count for a lot more than deciding on which way Pietersen’s autobiography will go when it came to the captains he played under. Of course, he will also like to become the first captain to win a game on this tour.
To assist Swann in realising that dream, he needs his batsmen to succeed. The hope will be there, because of, rather ironically, what happened in the 50-overs cricket. In most games, England did well enough with the bat for a few overs in the game, before or after they had collapsed. Swann will hope that the side survive the 20-over blitz from the Indian spinners, unlike what had transpired back home against the West Indies. Chasing 114 for a win in that T20I, England’s meekness was conspicuous in the face of some steady spin bowling to be bowled out for 88.
So, in a radical turnaround of events from the Indian tour of England, the Indians will go into this game as huge favourites, even as the tourists hope for a win before they head back home to baying men of the fourth estate.