India face early elimination after Saturday. They need to catch up on a lot of improbables, including the arduous task of beating Sri Lanka, an eye on the net run rate and still hope that others would keep doing worse in their respective matches. Sri Lanka’s win over Bermuda by 243 runs hasn’t helped. India’s hopes surely hang by a slender thread.

Indian batting deserve all the flak which is coming its way. For the life of me, I would never understand why Rahul Dravid chose to bat first. The wickets in the Caribbean have been helping new ball in early starts and invariably teams batting first have found themselves under a cloud. With Virender Sehwag still to find his feet and Robin Uthappa in his first World Cup game, Dravid didn’t seem to have weighed in all the factors. Fielding would have been the better option ,especially when you think of the opposition you are up against and the fact it is your first game of the cup. It would have allowed India to ease themselves in and get a feel.

Invariably, Indian batsmen go into their shell when early wickets are lost. We don’t seem to have a Ricky Ponting or a Kumara Sangakkara who choose to come out firing when faced with a difficult situation. There is panic and fear of losing is palpable. It doesn’t help in a difficult situation. The approach on Saturday was timid to say the least and for most of the day it looked as if Bangladesh were India and India, Bangladesh.

The middle order collapse was amateurish. Yuvraj wasn’t a percentage stroke and Ganguly’s heave, coming close on heels of his partner’s fall, was irresponsible. Mahendra Singh Dhoni and the rest appeared dazed or in a trance.

Bangladesh though deserve all accolades which is coming their way. They have now won their 100th and 150th match and little prizes for guessing, both have been against India. Their fielding wasn’t brilliant, it was spectacular. The first attempt to get Virender Sehwag short of his non-striker’s crease should have rung a warning bell among the Indians.

Bowling was no less commendable. The spinners, all left-armers, didn’t suffer by lack of variation. New ball bowlers Mashrafee Mortaza and Syed Rasel showed verve and zeal. Mortaza can walk into any sub-continental side. Interestingly, Bangladesh’ run-chase was largely managed by two teenage batsmen — opener Tamim Iqbal and Saqibul Hasan. The rest of the batsmen on view were also less than 22.

For India to come back, they need a mixture of good luck a fearless approach and ruthless team selection and composition.

They must play five bowlers and Yuvraj must bat at four. If they are conservative, they could be back home by the end of the month.

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