Cricket: Coach pleads for India to produce Wright stuff

By RICHARD BOOCK in Christchurch

John Wright is pleading with his team to reverse their losing trend before the poor form impacts on their World Cup campaign.

The day after the India coach had watched his players fall to their fourth consecutive defeat against New Zealand, and the sixth if you count the two tests, the task of arresting their plummeting confidence was starting to play on his mind.

In a series with many similarities to the woeful Windies tour of 2000, the Indians have struggled to come to terms with New Zealand's more sporting pitches, but have been found wanting mostly in the area of mental toughness.

The seven-wicket loss at Queenstown on Saturday came after another thoroughly inept batting performance, followed by the no-less astonishing spectacle of New Zealand medium-pacer Andre Adams taking five wickets with an assortment of long-hops and wides.

Adams, celebrating a return to one-day international cricket after eight months out through injury, produced a lovely full inswinger to send back Rahul Dravid, but would otherwise have been as surprised as Wright over his success.

Virender Sehwag fell slashing, Mohammad Kaif and Dinesh Mongia perished to the hook, and No 11 Ashish Nehra miscued an attempted slog to conclude the innings.

Adams' five for 22 was the second best by a New Zealander, equalling Matt Hart's effort against the West Indies at Goa in 1994-95 but trailing Scott Styris' six for 25 against the same opposition at Port of Spain last year.

It was the best for a New Zealander against India, eclipsing Richard Collinge's five for 23 at Christchurch in 1975-76.

Wright could be forgiven for wondering about the future for his one-day squad, who again failed to bat 50 overs and looked understandably down on confidence.

"It is a concern," he said. "At the same time, I accept it's my job to ensure that whatever happens in New Zealand isn't carried over as unwelcome baggage in South Africa.

"Even now, we can be back on track if the batsmen realise the importance of discipline. This series is over, not the tour.

"Generally, conditions have been tough and the wickets bowler-friendly but, then, you've got to stop repeating mistakes. As it happened, this time we had a fair wicket and, after getting a start, the batsmen ought to have consolidated."

The good news for Wright is that key batsman Sachin Tendulkar may be available for Wednesday's fifth ODI, after missing all the games in this series and the previous seven one-dayers at home against the West Indies.

Tendulkar sprained his ankle before the first ODI, aggravated it again on the morning of the third but is expected to have a good chance of playing the fifth.

"The physio [Andrew Leipus] and I had a half-hour chat with Sachin after the Queenstown defeat, and he's confident of making a return in the next few days," Wright said.

"Obviously, Sachin's presence alone should lift the confidence of the other batsmen. He was set to play the third game but was kept off the roster as his ankle swelled up after a workout. Now, he feels he can cope with the demands of a ODI."

Indian captain Sourav Ganguly made no bones about the depth of feeling in the tourists' dressing room after they made just 122 with the bat, following totals of 108, 219 and 108.

"We are letting our people back home down. We are letting all those down who come to watch us. We are letting our coach down. We are letting our physio down. We are letting our trainer down," he said.

"We have to find some ways to stop this. We still have three more games to play for pride. We have to do something about it, but at the moment it is not happening."

The Indian captain did not blame the pitch for his team's defeat, saying the blame fell fairly and squarely at the feet of the batsmen.

"It was a very good one-day wicket," said Ganguly. "The batsmen are in poor form. It's eight innings now and none of us has fired. I have been the captain for three years now, but it's the worst phase of our cricket."