COLOMBO, July 23: Thursday could be the most important day for the Indian cricket side on their current tour of Sri Lanka. The team is facing monumental mathematical odds, and if they have to surmount that against Bangladesh to earn a place in the title round of the Asia Cup, then it will just be the elixir to tone up the ailing health of Indian cricket. Failure could only drag them deep into the depths of despair.

India's principal goal tomorrow would be to better Pakistan's net run-rate (+0.94) that will keep their hopes alive for a fifth Asia Cup title in as many appearances. India's run-rate stands at -0.63.

India's best chance lies in batting second, which puts the importance of winning the toss in sharp perspective. As skipper Sachin Tendulkar pointed out: ``We will have just a solitary goal -- batting second with the target to be achieved in the requisite number of overs becoming clear.''

Batting first would mean not only scoring at a very high rate but also worrying about the fact that they have to restrict Bangladesh within a specific number of overs.

In a similar scenario, though relatively easier in comparison, India upstaged Pakistan in their quest of a superior run-rate in 1996 at Sharjah. Tendulkar and Navjot Sidhu cracked centuries and Mohammed Azharuddin blazed his way at the finish, plundering 29 runs in the final over of the innings, bowler by Ata-ur Rehman. India scored 305 for five, which remains the only instance they have crossed the 300-run mark. The fact that there are only six instances in the history of One-Day Internationals when teams have crossed the 340-run mark, puts India's aspirations of aiming for a total in that region in focus.

In other words, if India are put into bat, they will have to come with a phenomenally good team batting display. They need as big a total as possible as their bowler will have to restrict Bangladesh to less than 120 runs of what they pile up. So, the bigger India's total, the better it would be for the weak Indian attack.

Talking about the gameplan for the morrow, Tendulkar said: ``It's not going to be just slogging. All risks will have to be taken in a calculated fashion.''

The general feeling is that India would have been better off playing the batsmen-friendly environ of Premadasa Stadium than the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) ground.

Tendulkar, however, viewed things differently. ``Both stadiums have their advantage and disadvantages. The outfield at the SSC is much faster in comparison to Premadasa, which is also a much bigger ground. And it's only early in the morning that the ball does a bit at the SSC.''

The India team management is exploring the possibility of reshuffling the pack, and one of the significant changes could be the skipper himself coming down the order to bolster the middle-order. The plan has been contemplated for sometime and could be put into effect tomorrow should India bat second. In the event, Sidhu will open the innings with Saurav Ganguly.

The Indians are giving themselves as much time as possible before picking their final composition. The only decision they came to today was in eliminating Noel David from contention.

Bangladesh have not batted too badly in their matches against Pakistan and Sri Lanka and skipper Sachin Tendulkar described them as a ``reasonably good side''.

``We are not underestimating them. They have two or three good batsmen...,'' he added.

The Indian skipper said that his side has brushed the betting controversy aside and are concentrating on the match ahead, when asked if there was added pressure on his side because of the latest developments.

Bangladesh have a few problems of their own with some of their key players rendered hors de combat. Fast bowler Saiful Islam is nursing a fracture on his finger, batsman Habibul Bashar is having a shoulder injury and left-arm spinner Enamul Haque has also hurt his finger.

Skipper Akram Khan said that though he was satisfied with his side's batting, the fielding and bowling continues to pose problems. However, he said that, ``it will be difficult for India to achieve their goal though they have some fine batsman like Tendulkar, Azharuddin and Dravid.''

TEAMS

India (from): Sachin Tendulkar (captain), Saurav Ganguly, Navjot Sidhu, Rahul Dravid, Mohammad Azharuddin, Ajay Jadeja, Robin Singh, Saba Karim, Anil Kumble, Abey Kuruvilla, Venkatesh Prasad, Nilesh Kulkarni and Debashish Mohanty

Bangladesh (from): Mohammed Akram Khan (captain), Aminul Islam, Enamul Haq, Minhajul Abedin, Athar Ali Khan, Saiful Islam, Naimur Rehman, Khaled Mashud, Hasibul Hussain, Habibul Bashar, Sheikh Salahuddin, Zakir Hussian, Mafizur Rehman and Mohammed Shariar Hussian.

Umpires: Nazir Junior and KT Francis; Third umpire: N Asghar; ICC Match Referee: John Reid

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.