Make or break at Harare for the Indian batsmen

After surrendering so meekly on the lively tracks in New Zealand, skipper Sourav Ganguly sounded philosophical about the dismal performance by the Indian batsmen. Ganguly found support from the New Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming, and even from the CEO of NZ cricket Martin Snedden - about the nature of pitches prepared for the one-day series.

Granted that the conditions were not friendly for the Indian batsmen in New Zealand. Even the most cynical Indian supporter was willing to give them the benefit of doubt after that debacle. But what about looking like wannabes against the Dutch at Paarl? One could be forgiven for thinking that it was starting-trouble for the Indian batsmen against the Dutch.

So they travelled to Centurion to take on the world champions Australia. There were enough reasons to hope that India would put up a better performance at Centurion. We still had faith in the seven-batsman theory, though there were enough signals in The People's XI to suggest that Sourav Ganguly and Mohammad Kaif have been put on notice. Ganguly picked up only 76.69% of votes and was placed at # 8, and Kaif finished at #11 - picking up 61.81% votes.

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Going by the vote pattern in The People's XI, Ganguly and Kaif had a lot to prove with their bat at Centurion. Ganguly failed again after spending 27 minutes in the middle, hitting one boundary in making nine runs. He was again caught behind, sparring at a delivery outside the off stump. When the skipper struggles so badly, the rest of the team follows suit.

2 Sourav Ganguly

3 Virender Sehwag

4 Rahul Dravid

5 Yuvraj Singh

6 Mohammad Kaif

7 Dinesh Mongia

8 Harbhajan Singh

9 Anil Kumble

10 Javagal Srinath

11 Zaheer Khan

But there can't be any excuses for the way Mohd Kaif has been batting lately. Today he scored just the solitary run before finding the fielder placed at deep backward square leg with uncanny accuracy - with a hook shot. That makes it 90 runs in the last eleven outings at an average of 8.18

Even though the selectors can't give the failing batsmen a shock treatment in the middle of a tournament, they have full right to call up the team management and ask them to get things right - at the earliest. As far as India's chances in the World Cup go, they cannot afford to lose a game from here on.

This was the playing XI at Centurion - and all they could gather was 125 runs, and the seven-batsmen theory was put to shame once again. For the tenth time in a row India failed to bat out the full compliment of 50 overs. Now that is some dubious record!

Here is your chance to make your opinion heard loud and clear. Even before the selectors get together and even decide to talk to the team management, cast your votes for The People's XI. It is the people's choice - whether the likes of Bangar and Agarkar should play ahead of Kaif or even Ganguly for the next game against Zimbabwe at Harare.

India hold a 2-1 advantage over Zimbabwe in all one-dayers played at Harare Sports Club. The last time India played a one-day game at Harare, they lost to West Indies in the final of the Coca-Cola Cup, with Sachin Tendulkar making a duck! Another batting collapse at Harare is something India cannot afford.

Vote for The People's XI to play against Zimbabwe at Harare Sports Club in Harare on 19th February 2003.

The People's XI for the India v Netherlands game at Paarl (Analysis)