'Flexibility The Way To Go'

Former South African opener Barry Richards hit out atIndia's theory of going into a one-day game with seven batsmen and wanted moreflexibility in the Saurav Ganguly-led squad's approach in the limited overformat with better equipped tail-enders available now.

"I have been of the opinion if six batsmen can'tdo it, then seven would not make any difference," he said evaluating theIndian team, currently in the middle of a slump after a fabulous 2003-04 season.

"I have never been convinced about it. Yes, in theNatWest series (that India won in England in 2002), Yuvraj (Singh) and(Mohammed) Kaif did it. But if you look at stats, you would know how manymatches number six and seven have won for you and how many they have lost,"Richards said in support of his viewpoint.

The Indian team management has always advocated theseven-batsman theory as it feels that it has done wonders for them in the past.

Richards felt that Kaif had actually declined as abatsman because of the situation in which he comes in to bat.

"Kaif has actually gone backwards because when hecomes in it is 60 for five and he is under pressure. Or when he comes in it isfour overs to go," he said about the UP player, who is among the bestfielders in the team.

"India went for seven batsmen because their numbereight, nine, ten or eleven couldn't bat. Now you have (Laxmipathy) Balaji, (Irfan)Pathan and (Ajit) Agarkar. Australia have always followed this method and thelikes of (Brett) Lee and (Michael) Kasprowicz can either hold one up end or giveit a go," he noted.

Richards also wanted more flexibility in the team's batting order especiallyover the position in which Rahul Dravid comes in to take strike and pointed outthe case of Australia's one-day specialist Andrew Symonds as the perfect exampleto prove his point.

"Flexibility is the way to go. Symonds comes tothe ground knowing he might bat at number seven or three. He's comfortable withit," he said.

"That's the kind of flexibility they got to havein the Indian camp, so that Rahul knows he might not be in a fixed position.It's the perfect situation here in Amsterdam, where the matches wererain-reduced, to have tried this out," the cricketer-turned-commentatorsaid.

Richards also wanted Ganguly to stamp his authority onthe game and lead from the front.

"He is keen to do well. I think he needs to puthis hand up in tight situations. He was caught in two minds in the game againstPakistan.

"Between Ganguly and (Virender) Sehwag, India wereoff to a fine start. Then he told himself if he bats through the overs, theywould win. He went quiet for two three overs and then tried to break free (andfailed)," Richards noted.

"I think if he had just kept playing the normalaggressive way, they should have won the game. He made a little misjudgment andit cost India the game.

"He needs to stand up and lead from the front.It's important he stamps his authority in every game. You can't afford to assumeyou have got a good batting side and relax," the South African legend said.

PTI