One-day wonders or five-day flops?

The team that has chased down totals like 286, 288, 265, 298 and 261 with ease in the 50-overs game in last six months appeared to believe that 295 in 90 overs today was a similar walk in the park. But when they faced a spread-out field and a weary track with variable bounce and turn, they seemed perplexed.

The manner in which the big hitters Dhoni, Yuvraj and Sehwag were dismissed proved this point. For the latter two, the abnormal seam movement in a pressure situation was something new 8212; and they failed to deal with it.

Dhoni, whose importance in India8217;s batting line-up tells a sorry tale, didn8217;t know how to handle Udal 8212; or, indeed, how to put his head down and graft. One escape off a duff shot wasn8217;t enough; he promptly tried it again.

Equally scary is the reliance on Irfan Pathan the batsman. The stand-in opener of the second innings has never chased a tricky target in Tests; in ODIs, with the cushion of field restrictions, his chip-and-charge policy has worked well. But when it came to batting out the awkward last 10 overs on the penultimate day of a Test he was found wanting.

Pathan and Dhoni are potential all-rounders; neither has arrived there yet, especially in the five-day format, though that appears to be general opinion. Ironically, both have done well with the bat as has Kumble, which will no doubt encourage thinking along the above lines.

The biggest confusion, though, is in the field. Test-match field placing is a whole new ball game, requiring specialist players. The phrase 8216;8216;catches win matches8217;8217; was invented for Test cricket, it holds less true for the one-day game.

Yet India appear to have no specialist Test fielder, Dravid apart. The captain is aware of it: 8216;8216;Next time while selecting a team we need to see if the player fits in the right fielding position.8217;8217;

They could have done with that at the Wankhede. Yuvraj Singh seemed clueless at short leg and out of place in the slips. Sehwag, with his back problem, wasn8217;t ready to crouch and that meant an ad hoc arrangement in the close-in fielding. That also meant Anil Kumble, the main strike bowler, fielding at gully and exposing his valuable fingers to full-blooded cuts.

The fear is that the hectic 8212; and overhyped 8212; one-day schedule in the next three weeks, and a possible positive result in it, will see these problems swept under the carpet. And the learning process will start all over again in the West Indies.

Vision 2007 is all very well, but not at the cost of seeing the here and now.

Eden8217;s loss is Motera8217;s gain

Ahmedabad: IT8217;s official now. Ahmedabad, which edged out Kolkata, will be one of the four venues for the ICC Champions Trophy to held later this year. Jaipur, Cricket Club of India Mumbai and Mohali will be the other three venues.

8216;8216;Yes, these venues have been, more or less, finalised. But only after three or four days we will be able to give more details on this,8217;8217;8221; said BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah.

BCCI president Sharad Pawar and other officials met their ICC counterparts in Dubai yesterday to finalise the details.

8216;8216;Mr Pawar called me from Dubai saying that Ahmedabad has been confirmed as a venue. He has given the go ahead to make preparations,8221; said Narhari Amin, president of Gujarat Cricket Association GCA.

8220;The event will see 31 matches being played and each venue will get at least five matches,8221; added Amin.

The event is scheduled to be held from October 7 to November 5.

8212; Muralidharan K