Wet outfield delays Kochi One-Dayer

Kochi: The second One-Dayer of the seven-match series between India and Australia at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi has been delayed due to wet outfield. The umpires inspected the ground at 0900 IST and decided that the toss will take place at 0915 IST.

Even the pitch has some areas of concern and the outfield is waterlogged at some places. Lack of a good drainage system has made the work of the curator and the groundstaff difficult.

Rains have stopped and the sun is out and that will help the outfield to dry out quickly. The first One-Dayer in Bangalore was also a washout.

Australia will be without their regular skipper Ricky Ponting for the second straight game. Ponting is out of the team due to a hamstring injury sustained during the six-wicket loss to Pakistan in the Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa.

Former India skipper Sourav Ganguly, too, will miss the match after he injured his hamstring during the first ODI.

Teams:

India (From): Mahendra Singh Dhoni (WK, C), Rahul Dravid, Gautam Gambhir, Sourav Ganguly, Harbhajan Singh, Dinesh Karthik, Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan, Piyush Chawla, Ramesh Powar, Rudra Pratap Singh, Robin Uthappa, S Sreesanth, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh.

Australia (From): Ricky Ponting (C), Adam Gilchrist (WK), Nathan Bracken, Staurt Clark, Michael Clarke, Brad Haddin, Matthew Hayden, Ben Hilfenhaus, Brad Hodge, Brad Hogg, James Hopes, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Andrew Symonds, Adam Voges, Michael Hussey, Shaun Tait, Shane Watson.

Source: www.cricketnext.com