Team Must Back Ganguly

It is this moment in Saurav Ganguly's career whereanother wrong step and he falls into an abyss. It will be all over. Faced withsimilar predicament, some captains in the past have willfully withdrawnthemselves from the team. Mike Denness of England did it in the 70s.

In our sub-continent though, it is easier said thandone. It is like riding the back of a tiger. You just can't get off and not facethe consequence.

Everything Ganguly has earned -- fame, money, pride andself-respect -- is slipping out of his hands like quicksand. He is being suckedinto oblivion. As he confronts his fate, I hope his teammates are rallyingaround him.

They must look him in the face and convey a senseof complete confidence. If they withdraw in the hope it would give him space torediscover his belief, they might, unwittingly, end up shattering himcompletely. He needs his men in this dark hour and they must not desert him.

In our times, we used to find new ways to help our troubled teammates. Insteadof nets, we would order a practice match and bowling and fielding would bedesigned to allow the troubled soul to rediscover his confidence. A few dashesdown the pitch, a few dabs past the slip and the man would be on the move again!

Though like Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar too hasn't gotgoing but he does not look completely out of touch. It is just that theJamshedpur pitch had something in it for fast bowlers. Tendulkar was clearlybeaten by pace. I have noticed that he has been tentative with his strokeplay onthe off-side cordon.

It hasn't escaped the notice of the Pakistan team too,who at one stage, had just two players on the onside. He is tentative with hismovements.

It wasn't a pitch like the ones we saw in the first twoone-day internationals. The manner of dismissals of India's key players,Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid, would suggest it had a lot more bounce andcarry.

Dravid was clearly not prepared for a ball which rockedhim on the backfoot and lobbed off his bat in the gully region. As for YuvrajSingh, he is woefully out of touch and like his captain, seems to be searchingfor the ball. Mohammad Kaif contributed a typical 30-odd innings but all of itwasn't going to carry India far.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni is just learning the fickle natureof the game. His shots carry punch but the jury is still out on his technique.

All of this makes me feel the advantage has passed on to Pakistan. India has itscamp in disarray. Besides its batsmen, there are worries about the fitness of LakshmipathyBalaji and now Harbhajan Singh. Irfan Pathan too, whenever he tried to bowlyorkers, ended up bowling full-tosses. They would be more concerned about whomto play and whom to rest instead of plotting Pakistan's fall.

Pakistan will look to drive home the advantage.

Pakistan did its own funny acts. Thy were well on theway to a total of 350-plus before losing wickets in a heap. The stand-out actbetween Salman Butt and Shoaib Malik deserved a better score.

While on Malik, I must say his new bowling style madehim look no better than Younis Khan or Butt who sometimes turn their arms over.It was as if Malik had gripped the ball for the first time in his life. He hasbeen cleared by the ICC and this must be the new action he is experimentingwith. But he looked completely harmless to the batsmen.

Pathan did strike a few lusty blows in a dying Indianresponse and he can turn out to be handy with the bat in future. He carriespower and his defence is tight. His is a similar case to that of Malik, whom wedeveloped as a batsman. Today's cricket is all about maximising the potential ofyour players.

PTI