Wanted: Bold moves to boost morale

If nets isn’t their scene, India would be better off taking a radical approach for Sunday keeping in mind the ICC Champions Trophy that begins next week.

For starters, it’s time wicket-keeper Dinesh Kaarthick got a game and Rahul Dravid was relieved of his keeping duties. One national selector this reporter spoke to today said that the vision — as much as selectors have — of providing the Indian team with a wicket-keeper is to test his mettle in match conditions and plan for the 2007 world cup.

Dravid may toil manfully and quietly but the strain of the double duty is now clearly evident in his batting stats.

Skipper Sourav Ganguly should continue to open the innings, with Yuvraj, and push Sehwag down the order, making very clear that it is not a demotion but an opportunity for him to show what he can do in the middle order.

With Mohammad Kaif middling the ball, VVS Laxman finds himself under pressure. Time and again he has got off to good starts at number three, only to be dismissed trying to manufacture a shot for the abridged version of the game. His dismissal at Oval was a clear indication of his mindset.

With the array of strokes at his disposal he would do well to just continue playing naturally, not force his style. After all, his last five one-day hundreds have been products of sweet strokeplay, not improvisation.

Laxman’s lack of confidence is symptomatic of what is wrong in the Indian dressing-room. There was a time not so long ago, in Australia and Pakistan, when any total seemed attainable irrespective of the number of wickets that were gone.

These days gloom envelopes the dressing room whenever the asking total is above 250.

One team member said that even they could not comprehend where and why the confidence of those two glorious tours has gone. ‘‘Surely all the batsmen cannot lose form together’’, he reasoned.

Surely not — but it seems like all the pacers have. The contempt with which Balaji, Agarkar and Nehra were handled in the two games raises doubts about India’s ability to defend even a score of 300, ignore the fact that a total of 200 these days seems distant.

Zaheer Khan’s constant injuries have forced him to miss too many games, leaving young Irfan Pathan to spearhead the attack. Even Javagal Srinath has hinted at the need to check cricketers sustaining repeated injuries and monitor their attitude rather than their wounds.

However, despite their confidence being as battered as the ball Flintoff smashed around at The Oval, the Indian team can take heart from the statistics, which show that India has only lost the last four matches they have played. Before the finals, this Indian side had defeated Sri Lanka in a thriller in the Asia Cup and trounced Pakistan in Pakistan.

A form slump is as familiar as common cold in international sport. The trick is to ensure that it does turn into pneumonia.