India, going down, meet England, going up

An Indian team in good health should have walked home against an England team that has played wonderful Test cricket and abominable one-day cricket this year. India believe, certainly the captain does, that they should be ranked at number two; England were ranked at number eight and yet they produced a hopelessly one-sided match.

There is an opinion, and it must be respected, that India and England met at par; but with one team looking down, the other on the ascendant.

When India were playing good cricket, from the Natwest Trophy of 2002 till the World Cup of 2003, they seemed a cheerful, bubbly side. When teams demonstrate intensity, it means they are in good health, that they want to go out onto the ground, they want to almost show off. Australia do that all the time, England are now doing it in Test cricket and Sri Lanka do it at home. Since July India have looked flat and under-prepared.

Really, the reverse should have happened after a rest and a camp to get the joints and muscles going again. But in Sri Lanka they looked heavy, they were dragging their feet. The blood is not flowing through the veins like it should for a champion side.

India are not getting the starts they must and part of the reason is that Virender Sehwag has lost rhythm. When he gets a start the others bat around him but his inconsistency is now worrisome. And Sourav Ganguly, who in his pomp was India’s best one-day batsman, is producing mere sparklers now.

Patience was his virtue and that is why he often batted through a major part of the innings. Hopefully that desertion is temporary but it means that India are losing too many wickets in the first 15 overs; 2.6 on average for a total of 75. That is too many, even for a side that plays seven batsmen.

Bowling was always India’s supporting cast and, sadly, it is looking pretty meagre. Admittedly there have been injuries but when the pace starts to drop, there has to be cause for worry. India’s number one bowler is less than 12 months old in international cricket but Zaheer has gone, Nehra is slower, Agarkar is an occasional presence and Balaji carries a slightly confused look to him.

At Trent Bridge, he took a couple of wickets but he ran in differently, and very slowly, and struggled to reach 130 kmph. His strength is his vitality but he isn’t exactly charging back to his run-up.

Even Anil Kumble, the most lion-hearted of India’s bowlers, is looking a little short of a fight and that is rare.

It means India need a pick-me-up very quickly and that has to come from the batsmen and fielders who, incidentally, are looking well below par. It won’t be easy because England have got their composition right. Rather than three bowlers and many who could turn their arm over, they now play five bowlers. And the leader, Steve Harmison, is looking very sharp. He and Andrew Flintoff are their talisman cricketers and Flintoff, these days, enters a ground like he owns it.

India have three games to get it right before a huge home season and while they don’t quite look like they possess the fire, often a little tinkering is all that is needed for a good side. On Friday, at The Oval, I will be looking to see if India have the energy; to see if they charge out or merely walk out.