India’s batting order at Motera?

Its a very tough one this time. There are quite a few questions being asked about almost all the batsmen in this celebrated batting line up, recently dethroned by their adulating hoards from their own pedestal of the greatest batting line up in the world.

Here’s a look at the possibilities.

1. GANGULY:
Saurav has to first decide whether he should play or sit out. A lot has been said about why he should rest for a game to need repeating. BUT if he plays, deciding the position he bats at is still a tough one.

Normally, it would be fair to say, for someone like him with his bad form and his past record as opener, let him open and play his shots as he goes in and with the fielders in he has a fair chance of getting away for a few and get some confidence back. But it may be worthwhile to recall that:

• he has gone in at number 3 and the first wicket has gone for nothing and it hasn’t helped
  
• he averages 10 runs per innings more at number 3 than in the opening. Clearly he isn’t that good against the new ball as is supposed
  
• the way the team has been fairing an early loss of Ganguly PLUS the possibilty of Sehwag’s chancy early batting would put excessive pressure on a struggling middle order and
  
• finally, that he will be well aware that a failure at the top, going for his shots, will be the worse thing to happen for him in his current situation. For this time it would cast doubts on his commitment as a leader. This he can ill afford.

So, if he does choose to play, lower down, numbers 6-7, may be okay for him. He could come in with India in a strong position and play his shots with relative freedom and less worry of criticism. Or he may come in with the team in a crisis and try to build the innings with a captains knock which, if he gets a few, might still do him good irrespective of the pace at which he gets his runs.

It will also deflect criticism from those who will be after him for not dropping out since it will be seen as some kind of a sacrifice. This is not to say that this should be a consideration for a captain but anything that relieves pressure on the beleaguered Ganguly will help.

Finally, his team mates will surely appreciate the gesture particularly the youngsters like Kaif and Yuvraj who will benefit from this.

2. TENDULKAR:
If Ganguly doesn’t open, it more or less decided Sachin’s spot, though I would have felt, even he needs to get away from batting alongside Sehwag for some time. If the team drops one of the other players and brings in Mongia, maybe he could open. It would be a bit harsh on the poor chap since it would be a no win situation for him. If he fails, he goes, if he scores, it is unlikely he will stay as opener for long anyway!

If Ganguly decides to open himself with Sehwag, I would prefer Sachin at number three rather than lower in normal conditions.

3. DHONI:
Before the start of the third ODI, I had opined that Dhoni will and should open in the third ODI. I had also said that his place in an India ODI line up is at number seven. There isn’t a contradiction in it as looks at first glance.

The first option was in the context of his 148 in the earlier game. It would have been unimaginable for Ganguly to change his order after that innings. Its not as if he had gone in at number three and played a slashing cameo as a pinch hitter. No. He had played a very mature knock. He started fairly modestly allowing Sehwag to steal the limelight and only later in the company of Dravid did he start going for the bowling in a big way. Finally, the way he continued even after having got a hundred was very admirable. There was nothing in that innings or the match situation of the 3rd test (chasing 320 runs) or setting up a big score, if they were batting first, that could have made Ganguly NOT send him at number three again.

In addition, in spite of what one has read of his being sorted out by steady bowling, I think he started similarly to the Vizag innings and on a wicket that did surprise with sudden bounce that Pakistan bowlers exploited very well.

However, normally, with India’s batting strength being what it is and if all batsmen were in form, one does not see a place for him in the top five. Not yet at least. It may change and we may get more than a poor man’s Gilchrist if one billion people keep twenty fingers and toes permanently crossed.

Having said that, his position should be flexible and he has the potential to be used very well at the last 10 over stage also. India would do well to use him, at least for now, as an option to be used as required rather than fix him at 3 or 7.

4. SEHWAG:
One doesn’t see much chance of Sehwag’s order being changed for now. The only possibility is if Ganguly decides to open with Sachin. Their is a bit of romanticism attached to that notion and a hint of excitement would be in the air if the two walked out together at Ahmedabad but I think it would be castigated as the worst decision in Ganguly’s entire stint as captain, were it to fail. That alone will be a sobering enough influence on Ganguly, I should think. No. This appears a go-to-the-neighbourhood-quack remedy, which may bring results, as a visit to the quack’s mixture of ingredients of doubtful origins sometimes does but as in the latter case that success may not have anything to commend the wisdom of the idea to start with.

5. YUVRAJ & KAIF:
There batting order is less likely to influence the whole. Rather, the other decisions the team management takes on the others, will decide where they bat. One hopes, however, that both of them (if both play) will grab the opportunity and score irrespective of where they bat. The same Indian public and the media who are today shouting themselves hoarse in their support, because they (the public) have more prominent boys to whip, will not hesitate to call for their head tomorrow if the Ganguly’s and Tendulkar’s start getting runs and India still loose with no contributions from the youngsters.

It’s a tough audience to please. They will raise you to heights you probably don’t deserve, sooner than you thought possible and then will also dump you, most cruelly and unceremoniously, in the blackest of holes just when you got used to the rarified air at the peak of the mountainous pedestals they keep erecting for their icons-of-the-week!