Top Order Blues

India lately has been hoping for Virender Sehwag to come good. There have been endlesspublic assurances and even bouts of captaincy for good measure. It hasn't worked.Jamshedpur only added to the unease.

India might not fret a great deal about the loss in the sixth one-dayer. The heat wasterrible and there were far too many replacements, including a new set of medium-pacers.But it needs a reassurance on its top order. India is not willing to let go on Sehwag orMohammad Kaif, or for that matter Sachin Tendulkar. But time is running out.

Ideally, all of India would love to have these men in the 2007 World Cup. But it alsoneeds time to think of alternatives. Between now and the Caribbean carnival, a new playercould at the most have 15 one-day internationals. If India must change horses mid-stream,the time to do it is now.

That Sehwag has been affected is there for all to see. His initial bravado has givenway to skepticism. Sehwag in repose at the crease has resembled a cat ready to pounce onanything which comes his way. A cobra in coil, a panther on haunches, a falcon in thatstrategic patrolling of the sky.

He is a quintessential four-man; always visualizing the shortest and swiftest passageof the ball to the boundary. Not at the moment though.

The bowlers now are teasing him outside the off-stump and he is curbing himself. He hasput his instincts on hold which is a dangerous ploy for those who are nature's product. Hehas even begun to weigh the virtue of the pull shot these days. Sehwag is not the kind ofbatsman who can get away by restructuring his batting.

Kaif's case is equally a study in regret. He has been dealt harshly by fate -- his 90sand 50s have usually resulted in his omission in the next game while for others itgenerally is a license for the next dozen games.

Now when a string of failures have come, Kaif is leaning not so much on his reputationas on goodwill. Not long ago, he was one safe pair of legs in a bunch of no-gooders. Noweven he doesn't stand out among Generation Next of Indian cricket.

The Kaif of today will increasingly have to lean on his batting to firm up his base.Mere fielding will not do.

One guesses there are still three games for these men to sort themselves out. It isn'tthe case of loss of ability; but a snapping up of confidence. They are lucky that India iswinning otherwise they would have been still more untenable. One senses that India wouldstill have decided on the two by the end of the Abu Dhabi games.

Among the youngsters, Ramesh Powar has steadily gained in impression. In Jamshedpur, hestuck it out with the bat. He has the sort of frame which would be ridiculed in the modernera. One is now used to seeing a lot of fitter, stronger and mobile cricketers on thefield.

He is a complete anti-thesis of it and sooner or later the cry on his frame would onlyget shrill. For the moment though, he is allowing India to play with five bowlers.

Pawar's presence has also galvanized Harbhajan Singh, who has by far been the bestbowler on either side in the one-day series. Against better players of spin than England,it would be tricky for India to choose between the two of them.

England, on their part, would be happy with the form of James Anderson who has been onespirited presence since the Mumbai Test. Andrew Flintoff now probably can choose to stayin the hut in Indore as well.

Andrew Strauss too could smile as there wasn't an Irfan Pathan to keep him in torment.Ian Bell didn't have to bat out of his skin because of the low target and it suitedEngland fine. By the evidence of this game, it seems okay that these three Indianmedium-pacers are not the first choice of the team management.

Finally, it is nigh difficult to believe that any cricketer would be keen forcompetitive cricket in weather as severe as the one in Jamshedpur. The mercury is risingin India and it's time to lay down arms.

PTI