From: vigneswa@ecs.umass.edu
Newsgroups: rec.sport.cricket
Subject: Can Azhar do it again against England?
Date: 28 Jan 93 17:43:40 GMT

Beleagured Azhar ponders his fate as Gooch celebrates

     CALCUTTA, India, Jan 27 (AFP) - If Test matches were  won on
the fortunes of the rival captains, England would walk over India
in the first Test starting at the Eden Gardens here Friday.

     England's Graham  Gooch and rival  Mohammad Azharuddin  will
present a  contrasting picture  when they walk out to toss at the
historic 100,000-capacity stadium in this cricket-crazy city.

     Provided he can shake off a bug that is sweeping through the
England squad, the 39-year-old Gooch will have an added spring in
his step in his 100th Test match.

    But Azharuddin, 10 years his junior, faces the stiffest chall-
enge in a roller coaster career.

    Winless in  16 of his 17  Tests as  captain, Azharuddin has a
last chance to redeem  himself both as a leader and  batsman -- a
task easier said than done given India's solitary win in its last
25 Tests.

    India's cricket selectors will  meet during the first Test to
appoint a  captain for the  remaining two Tests  and four one-day
internationals, but  Azharuddin is  confident the  tide will turn
soon.

    "Of those  25 Tests, all  but one were abroad and we won that
one," said Azharuddin, referring to an easy victory over SriLanka
on a spiteful wicket in Chandigarh in 1990 -- his lone success as
captain.

    "Playing at home has  its advantages and we are determined to
get our act  together here," said  the  classy  strokeplayer, who
struggled  to score  just  120 runs  in six  Test innings  on the
recent South African tour.

    Azharuddin  has a chance  to make  amends at the Eden Gardens
where he made a  sensational start to his career in 1984, scoring
three centuries in his  first  three Tests against  David Gower's
Englishmen.

    Gooch is  almost certain to go  into the match less  than 100
percent fit. "He is on anti-biotics and spent the day in his room
with a slight temperature,"  manager  Keith Fletcher said on Tues-
day.

    Gooch, on the other  hand, hopes to  celebrate his century of
Tests with a  century on the board, whic h may or may not  be his
100th first class century.  He will know on  February 2, the last
day of the Test, whether the  International Cricket Council (ICC)
recognises the 109 he scored on the rebel tour of South Africa in
1982 as a first-class century.

    If the  ICC count the  rebel  century -- reports  indicate it 
will -- then  Gooch  reached  the  coveted  landmark  with a  102
against the Indian juniors in Cuttack last week.

    But the  England captain  hopes to set all  doubts at rest at
the Eden Gardens,  which he counts  as one of his  three favorite
Test grounds -- the others being Lord's in London and Newlands in
Cape Town.

    "It would have  been nice to  know where I stand in  terms of
centuries, but nothing can match a hundred in my 100th Test match,"
he said.

    Gooch, who was part of England's team which lost to Australia
in the World Cup final here in 1987, is wary of taking the Indians
lightly despite the home team's poor track record in recent years.

    "I am not concerned how or why India lost in South Africa. We
have to play  at our best to  beat a team that is  obviously more
familiar with the conditions than we are," he said.

    Gooch obviously has taken note of the fact that the last time
a full Test series was  played in India -- against New Zealand in
1988-89 -- the home team won 2-1.

    That the Indians  may be getting  their act together  was evi-
dent when they won the second one-day international in Chandigarh
last Thursday to level the six-match series 1-1.  England won the
first at Jaipur on January 18.

    The rival teams for the first of three Tests -- the remaining
two will be  back-to-back affairs in Madras (February 11-15) and
Bombay (February 19-23) -- will be named after nets Thursday.

Thanks:  Agence France Presse

===

Vicky:
UMass, Jan 28
Newsgroups: rec.sport.cricket