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India knocked out of Sharjah tournament

When India lost two out of five games at home against South Africa, Saurav Ganguly had said that he wasn't too worried, because the team had played fighting cricket.

This time round, he doesn't have that consolation. India not only lost, but lost without a fight, for the second game in a row, to finish at the bottom of the table and effectively find themselves out of the Sharjah triseries.

What must rankle most, for the fan, is that India doesn't even have the slight loophole of waiting for the result of tomorrow's game. By playing badly the second half of its winning game against Pakistan earlier in the series, the team also wrecked its run rate and in the process, effectively ensured that even if Pakistan lose tomorrow, it will still figure in the finals -- while India will figure in the passenger list of the plane going home.

"We batted badly throughout this series," said Ganguly, adding more significantly, "It is time the middle order played its part, you cannot expect the top order to get you runs all the time."

South Africa, meanwhile, maintained its astonishing streak at Sharjah, where it is yet to lose a single game.

This time round, India rested Sunil Joshi and brought in Nikhil Chopra -- a choice that didn't really make much sense, given that Joshi has been bowling very well of late. On the plus side, India won the toss, on a slower wicket than the one on which yesterday's game was played against Pakistan.

India decided to take a leaf out of Pakistan's book, and play classical one day cricket, batting safely through the first half of the innings, with the idea of keeping wickets in hand for a push towards the end. By that yardstick, being 70/1 after 20 overs, with Azhar and Sachin both looking set, seemed to have set India right on course. And then the old, familiar failing recurred -- once those two got out, there was no one left in the middle order to put up his hand, take on himself the onus of guiding the team through (remember Ganguly's comment about the middle order?). India finished on 164 -- by any yardstick, a good 60 runs short of a defendable total.

Ganguly fell early. The South Africans appear to have figured that the way to go is to get the ball lifting outside off, bringing Ganguly into the pushed drive on the up and finding his edge -- a strategy Nantie Hayward exploited with clinical precision as early as the 5th over.

From then on, Sachin and Azhar steadied ship, in their own contrasting ways. Sachin cut out every single risk. And for once, came forward decisively -- which makes a huge difference in his game. In his past three innings, he has been bowled twice, LBW once, each time the dismissal coming with him playing on top of the crease, neither forward nor back. Today, he was decisively forward, or back, on length and the difference was apparent. Azhar, meanwhile, was Azhar -- now producing a stunning flicked four through midwicket to a yorker on off stump, then slashing outside off and managing to clear the fielders and find the fence. Neither batsman looked to really accelerate, obviously content to just roll it around, and hang on to their wickets.

Meanwhile, South Africa's bowling reminds you of Noah's Ark -- they do it in twos. First, Hayward and Kallis, six overs apiece. Then, Ntini and Elworthy, six apiece. Then, Klusener and Boje. And so on. They pair of, two by two like they were strolling up the gangplank having signed on for Noah's luxury cruise, they bowl well in tandem, each supplementing the other and both bowlers working to preconceived strategy. If you think cricket is an art, ask the South Africans -- they've reduced it to a science, and for all I know, they teach it in school along with biology, zoology and all the other ologies.

But today, it was the fielding that made the difference -- with Gibbs at point really putting on an exhibition today. His anticipation was uncanny, his dives brilliant, his recovery and flickbacks incredibly fast. The result was that not only did he save runs -- many of them -- in that region, but he created a situation where a ball played out on the off had the batsmen content to stay at their respective ends, without even thinking of a run. Neil McKenzie was equally electric at cover and midwicket, and the rest of the Proteas backed the lead stars up in an awesome display of fielding that constricted the Indians and forced the dismissals.

That in fact is a feature of the South African game -- when the bowlers get stymied, the fielders pull off a couple of crucial run outs, and give their bowlers the edge again. Today was an example -- with Azhar and Sachin looking set and slowly beginning to accelerate, two stunning bits of fielding took both of them out -- and effectively finished off India's prospects.

First, Azhar. He forced one on the back foot, to mid on, and took off for the single. Being on the back foot meant that split second lost, where he had to transfer his weight back on the front foot and take off. That was all McKenzie needed -- racing in from mid on, he fielded parallel to the stumps, picked up, and easily underarmed the ball onto the single stump he could see, to catch Azhar inches out of his ground.

The very next ball saw Jadeja walking back -- Elworthy pitched one on off seaming it in a shade, Jadeja played from the crease, the ball kept low, hit the pad, and he was gone.

But it was the Sachin dismissal that was the real stunner. Picture this -- Sachin gets a yorker, digs it out and with the open bat face, guides it gently out on the off and takes off for the single. Dravid initially responds, thus committing Sachin to the run, then sends him back when Sachin is mid-pitch. Meanwhile, Gibbs, from point, anticipates. Races around to where a short extra cover would have been. At this point, he is facing the bowler's end, as he lunges into a dive, picks up the ball -- and while airborne, underarms it, under his body, and onto the middle stump, at the keeper's end -- in other words, in the direction opposite to the one he was facing.

That knocked the stuffing out of India. The team had no one who could, from that point on, guide it through to a decent total. And South Africa, well aware of that, settled into its boa constrictor style of play -- tight bowling, brilliant fielding, applying relentless pressure and strangling the remaining batsmen, taking out wickets at regular intervals, and preventing India from putting up anything like a decent total.

India's only hope was quick wickets. And Venkatesh Prasad raised some visions of a fightback when, in the 8th over, Gibbs came dancing down to try and club him over the onside field, but managed only to find Ganguly at mid on. The very next ball had Klusener, sent out to whack a few around, do a Jadeja -- to a ball pitching off and seaming in and keeping low a touch, Klusener just pushed from the crease, took it on the pad, and walked back LBW.

Kumble came on, and tormented Kirsten with a first over that left the left-handed opener clueless. In his next over, Kumble completed the job, tossing one up outside off, the googly that Kirsten misread and drove at, the ball turning away from him, finding the hard outer edge for Ganguly at slip to judge well and hold low.

At that point, SA were 50/3. Batting from then on, for both Kallis and McKenzie, became very laborious. Kallis did smash two huge sixes against Chopra, but on the whole, the Indian spinners kept a tight rein on the batsmen, and SA had inched along to 96/4 when McKenzie's troubles finally ended. Chopra induced him, with a floated ball around off, into trying a repeat of his heave, the previous ball, over midwicket. The ball spun, took the edge and flared to point and SA were 96/4.

Four runs later, Agarkar pitched a slower one on off and middle, Kallis was deceived into flicking early, the ball flew to Jadeja at square leg at shin height, and the fielder, reputedly one of the safest in the business, fluffed the catch. Kallis going at that point could have turned the game around and put SA under pressure -- but once he was reprieved, he settled down, and in company of Cronje, batted India right out of the game, and the tournament.

Sure, it is still possible -- possible -- that if Pakistan stuff up big time tomorrow against South Africa, India just might -- might -- find itself sneaking into the final.

But is it probable?

No.

Ganguly -- who, like Tendulkar before him, is now getting to savour the dubious pleasure of leading a non-performing side -- said it best. "We have two months off, till May 27 when we play the Asia Cup, we need to use it to get back to the nets and work on our game."

In other words, a season that has been an unremitting nightmare for the players and fans alike has ended. Finally. And the team has an opportunity to shrug it all off, learn from the failures, and get back on track.

Will it? Your guess is as good as mine -- probably better.

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