CENTURION, 16 February 2003 — India’s pathetic show in their game against Australia has almost ruined their chances in the World Cup. Sure, they can still go into the next phase if they win their next matches, but it is going to be hard for them to pick themselves up after this disastrous show. The lack of application was the reason for the batsmen falling like nine pins and once again even before the 20th over was bowled, India were five wickets down with barely 50 on the board. It was obvious that they had not learnt anything from the New Zealand tour, where also they used to be half out before the field restrictions were off.
While the pitches there were helpful to the bowlers, here there was no such excuse as batsman after batsman came in and played poor shots to depart and while doing so, banging the bat in disgust. If only they had shown some resolve then they would have been raising their bats to cheers rather than damaging the turf in mock anger.
One has only to look at some of the dismissals to understand that there was simply no resolve to fight it out. Instead the easy way was sought to try and go after a professional bowling attack marshalled well by a captain who knew exactly what the Indians did not want. Ponting led superbly and did not ease the pressure at all on the Indians.
By the time his non-regular bowler, Lehmann came on to bowl, India were effectively out of the match. He bowled his quicks in tandem rotating them shrewdly and was rewarded with the batsmen playing some eminently forgettable shots.
One has said this before and one says it again that there is a thin line between carefree and careless batting and lots of Indian batsmen are relying on their reputations as strokeplayers to play careless shots and getting away with it. Not that it was going to be easy against the world champs but it was the effort level that was disappointing.
Harbhajan showed great courage after being struck on the side of the helmet and ensured with his batting that India got past the three-figure mark. It was never going to be enough for the bowlers to defend and the Australian openers saw that India did not even get a glimmer of hope by going after the seam bowlers and getting off to a brisk start that also meant when the spinners came on they couldn’t employ an attacking field.
It was a truly awesome display by the Aussies just when there were some, like yours truly, who thought that they could be surprised in the early part of the tournament before they were in the groove. Instead, by dismissing two dangerous sides like Pakistan and India in their first two matches, the world champs have shown that it will take a real big effort to shock them.
As the tournament unfolds there will be other teams who also will be high on confidence and of course, the limited overs game is such that any team can have a bad day and lose on that day. It could happen to the Australians but at the moment it looks like a distant dream.
In the meanwhile, the nightmare continues for the Indians and it will need great strength of character and lots and lots of determination to be able to do so. A good performance against Australia not necessarily a winning one would have seen them in good heart against Zimbabwe but now they travel there in a frame of mind that only the blind will call optimistic. It is now or never for India in this World Cup. (Professional Management Group)
