Videocon final preview

In its preview of the final, Cricinfo just can't stop talking about Shane Bond. Which is fair enough given what blimmin' good form he has been in. Meanwhile Bond himself chips in with a column in which he puts even more pressure on India's top order and outlines exactly what he plans to do with them. It smacks a little of Australian-style hubris, so lets just hope Hubris' close mate Nemesis isn't waiting around the corner. If Bond needs any help with his planning, then Cricinfo's regular stats maestro, S Rajesh, is on hand to point out exactly where Sourav Ganguly's weaknesses have been.

Elsewhere the New Zealand Herald tells us that Chris Cairns is out of the match and diplomatically tries to explain why this is not too much of a concern. The Herald states that New Zealand is in such good heart that it has a number of players of the same class as Cairns who can step in and fill the breach. I kinda wish they had told the truth and said that the reason we have a number of players of his class is because his class has sunk to about the level of Kyle Mills.

The Christchurch Press focuses on the New Zealand team selection and speculates the line-up will be easy to pick. I guess we will see shortly whether the Press' prediction that Cairns, Patel and Adams will miss out is correct.

Meanwhile much of the Indian press seems to be priming for a backlash against their own side by reprinting a press agency story telling us that the team now has a great chance to shed its tag of "final floppers".