It's a now or never situation for the Indians

Picture this scenario. A team is on the verge of being eliminated at the preliminary league stage of an important competition. Even as the obituaries are being written, the team wins two matches to squeeze through into the following round, wins all three games in the next stage, enters the final after a breathtaking semifinal encounter and ultimately wins the trophy after outplaying their opponents in the final.

Sounds familiar? Yes, the reference is to Australia's triumph in the World Cup last year. Can we hope for India to perform a similar miracle in the Carlton and United Series?

The initial scenario is not very different. For the Indians are facing early elimination and everything points out to an Australia-Pakistan final. But all is not lost - not even after three straight losses. The format of the competition gives the Indians some hopes. But they will have to get their act together now. There is no time to waste. It's a now or never situation. Perhaps they can draw inspiration from Australia's remarkable comeback at the World Cup. Including the `triumph' in the semifinal, it was seven straight wins for Australia as they took the title. That is the kind of showing that the Indians will have to repeat if they want to win the Carlton and United Series.

In a way, Australia probably did India a little favour by getting the better of Pakistan on Wednesday. With eight points, Australia are virtually through to the best of three final, to be played early next month. Pakistan have four points and India nil. A win for Pakistan on Wednesday would have meant that both teams at the top would have had six points and that would have made India's task that much more difficult. Now at least India can `target' Pakistan. To qualify, India will have to win at least four of their remaining five games and three of these against Pakistan. A tall order, perhaps but not an impossible task.

However the manner in which the Indian team has been performing in Australia does give very little hope that they can make it to the title round. This is the time then to take some drastic actions, some hard decisions. In such a situation one has to gamble a bit for the traditional methods have got the team nowhere. It is up to the team management now to come up with unorthodox tactics and unusual strategies. And it will then be up to the players to put that plan into action. If they are serious about turning their fortunes around then a start has to be made at Hobart on Friday.