We call this feature 'quick comment' -- but no matter how quick you are, it would appear the Indian batsmen, here, are quicker at getting back to the pavilion.
One thing for sure -- here, unlike in the second Test, the wicket was not at fault. Saurav Ganguly in fact said at the toss that he wanted to bat first.
And yet, after 23 overs, an almost full-strength Indian lineup (Sanjay Bangar and Sachin Tendulkar being the only absentees) has been knocked over like skittles -- by a combination of good tight bowling, attacking captaincy (who ever heard of three slips and a gully at this point in a one day game?) and great fielding and catching.
More than all those factors, though, what is triggering this collapse is fear -- like the hangover throbbing in my head after the Christmas Eve party of last night, Indian heads appear to be still throbbing from their inadequacies against pace in the Test series.
That panic is contagious was evident in the way Yuvraj and Kaif -- who did not have to endure the trauma of the Tests -- mimicked their seniors at the crease.
Rain is not -- one hopes -- going to be an issue in the 2003 World Cup. Nor are cloud covers. But pace certainly is -- and that pace will be conveyed to the batsmen on hard, bouncy wickets. The Lee-McGrath-Gillespie combination for Australia, and a Pakistan battery comprising Akram-Akthar-Younis-Sami lie in wait
In a recent column, Martin Crowe made the valid point that from a tournament like this, coming ahead of the big one, you have to take away the negatives -- the things that do not work -- and work on these negatives before the real fun and games begin. It is good thinking -- and if you go with that theory, then what India will need to take away from the New Zealand adventure, thus far, is that its batting lineup is distinctly vulnerable to quality swing and seam bowling.
The side now has 6 games -- and a total of about 50 days -- to work on this, if it wants to progress beyond the league phase at the upcoming World Cup.
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