In last 10 matches at the venue, team batting first has won 8 times
KOLKATA: Eden Gardens has not been kind to chasers so far in this World Cup. Of the four matches played here, the team batting first emerged victorious in three, that too by a big margin. The only game that went against the run was Pakistan beating Bangladesh. Even that turned out to be quite comfortable for Pakistan. With the stage set for two batting powerhouses, Australia and South Africa, facing off in the second semifinal here on Thursday, Eden will be hoping for a thriller, something to go with the electric atmosphere that this iconic stadium is known to produce.
Although the toss would be crucial, acing the chase is something that both the teams would want to master. Going by the statistics in the tournament, South Africa are definitely more comfortable batting first. They have chased thrice, losing two of them. They are yet to lose while batting first.
Australia, on the other hand, are almost Even-Stevens. They have won thrice while chasing and have lost one. When batting first, they have won four, losing one. Of course, they found a great chase master in Glenn Maxwell against Afghanistan. They would have the assurance of having a batter of his calibre at number six, even if their chase is thrown off the track early on.
Eden Gardens, in fact, has always favoured the team batting first. Of the 33 ODIs which have produced results here, 20 have been won by the team batting first and only 12 by the side chasing (the semifinal of the 1996 World Cup was called off due to crowd trouble and the match was awarded to Sri Lanka).
In recent times, this disparity has been more overwhelming. In the last 10 matches here, only twice has the team batting second won. Although on a given day, it is the form that matters, both the teams will have these statistics in mind.
Then, there is the dew factor that cannot be wished away. Kolkata still hasn't seen too much of dew yet, it is something that is always threatening to descend as the evening wears on. India coach Rahul Dravid would prefer to dismiss this vagary of nature as something beyond their control, but spinner Ravindra Jadeja did remind of the problems it can create. After grabbing five wickets to destroy South Africa here, Jadeja admitted that dew is something they have to prepare for. "It can make an ordinary team look very good," he had said.
A knockout match in the World Cup needs a lot of preparations and both the teams shared the time slots for practice on Monday and Tuesday to get a feel of the conditions they would face on Thursday. While on Monday, South Africa trained in the afternoon, leaving the evening slot for Australia, it was vice-versa on Tuesday. After all, a World Cup semifinal is not just another game.
