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 dismalperformance by the Indian batsmen. Ganguly found support from theNew Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming, and even from the CEO of NZcricket Martin Snedden – about the nature of pitches prepared forthe one-day series.Granted that the conditions were not friendly for the Indianbatsmen in New Zealand. Even the most cynical Indian supporterwas 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-troublefor the Indian batsmen against the Dutch.So they travelled to Centurion to take on the world championsAustralia. There were enough reasons to hope that India would putup a better performance at Centurion. We still had faith in theseven-batsman theory, though there were enough signals in ThePeople’s XI to suggest that Sourav Ganguly and Mohammad Kaif havebeen put on notice. Ganguly picked up only 76.69% of votes andwas placed at # 8, and Kaif finished at #11 – picking up 61.81%votes.<!–.sch {font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,MS Sans Serif;font-size: 10px;color: #000000;}.hah {font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,MS Sans Serif;font-size: 10px;font-weight: bold;color: #999999;}th {font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,MS Sans Serif;font-size: 10px;color: #FFFFFF;}

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View in graphic formatGoing by the vote pattern in The People’s XI, Ganguly and Kaifhad a lot to prove with their bat at Centurion. Ganguly failedagain after spending 27 minutes in the middle, hitting oneboundary in making nine runs. He was again caught behind,sparring at a delivery outside the off stump. When the skipperstruggles so badly, the rest of the team follows suit.

But there can’t be any excuses for the way Mohd Kaif has beenbatting lately. Today he scored just the solitary run beforefinding the fielder placed at deep backward square leg withuncanny accuracy – with a hook shot. That makes it 90 runs in thelast eleven outings at an average of 8.18Even though the selectors can’t give the failing batsmen a shocktreatment in the middle of a tournament, they have full right tocall up the team management and ask them to get things right – atthe earliest. As far as India’s chances in the World Cup go, theycannot afford to lose a game from here on.This was the playing XI at Centurion – and all they could gatherwas 125 runs, and the seven-batsmen theory was put to shame onceagain. For the tenth time in a row India failed to bat out thefull 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 tothe team management, cast your votes for The People’s XI. It isthe people’s choice – whether the likes of Bangar and Agarkarshould play ahead of Kaif or even Ganguly for the next gameagainst Zimbabwe at Harare.India hold a 2-1 advantage over Zimbabwe in all one-dayers playedat Harare Sports Club. The last time India played a one-day gameat Harare, they lost to West Indies in the final of the Coca-ColaCup, with Sachin Tendulkar making a duck! Another battingcollapse at Harare is something India cannot afford.Vote for The People’s XI to play against Zimbabwe at HarareSports Club in Harare on 19th February 2003.The People’s XI for the India v Netherlands game at Paarl (Analysis)