Can India deal with the Murali menace?

All the euphoria from Nairobi seems to be ebbing away as the Indians were worsted by a rampant Muthiah Muralitharan on Friday. True the match was of little consequence but the abjectness of the surrender was alarming. Certainly the composition of the team - forced by injury to two key bowlers - was lopsided. The limitations of an attack with just three specialist bowlers were mercilessly exposed by Jayawardene and Atapattu and in the circumstances a target of 295 was not unexpected. The onus was on the seven man batting line-up but they showed an appalling lack of responsibility in the runchase.

Sridharan Sriram's inability to curb his predilection for the pull shot shows an apparent lack of willingness to learn and places a question mark over his immediate future. Vinod Kambli is increasingly becoming a deadweight in this team. In previous games he'd looked in good nick before contriving to get himself out but on Friday, Kambli struggled to get the ball off the square and it was almost a mercy when Murali deceived him in flight. Hemang Badani gave a useful account of himself in a situation where India had no real chance of winning and should retain his place at the expense of Sriram.

The orientation of the team is likely to come in for some overhauling before the final. There is a crying need for both Anil Kumble and Venkatesh Prasad to play in the final even if not fully fit purely as a psychological boost. A case exists for India to sport a five man attack in Zaheer, Prasad, Agarkar, Kumble and Joshi, since the fifth bowler has been arguably the team's weakest link. Ganguly has sought to farm out the duties of the fifth bowler to all and sundry in the desperate hope that someone comes good.

But if, as is likely, Kumble's shoulder doesn't get any better, India will probably just make the straightforward swap of Prasad for Sriram. The preponderance of lefthanders in the team is another aspect that should come under close scrutiny. It isn't clear whether the team management is bold enough to blood the coolheaded Mohd.Kaif who combines a common sense approach at the batting crease with the fleetfootedness of a hare in the field.

India will be better off in taking first strike, never mind the dew, and looking to either Tendulkar or Ganguly batting through the innings, since the batsmen have shown little resolve to stand up to the pressures of a chase. At the moment Murali seems to have sorted out the Indian batsmen, especially young Yuvraj Singh. If he's too canny to be got after, a conscious attempt needs to be made to attack support spinners, Russel Arnold and Sanath Jayasuriya who were treated with kid gloves on Friday. Let's leave the last word to Sourav Ganguly. "It takes one game to win a tournament and hopefully Sunday will be our day", said the Indian skipper. Whatever else may be wanting, surely no one can fault the Indians of lacking a sunny sense of optimism.