India's inability to win when it matters

A spectre haunts India. And no, it's not just Shane Bond. It's the larger and more ominous one of a tournament final. As impressive as the Ganguly-Wright partnership has been over the past five years, India have had an abysmal record when it comes to winning when it really matters. In fact the only final that India have won since 2000 is the NatWest series final in July 2002 against England at Lord's. That was indeed a worthy victory but India were looking at yet another defeat in a final until Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif rescued India from the throes of despair at 146 for 5 while chasing 326 for victory.

By and large India have generally made heavy weather of chasing a target and their performance in finals hasn't been helped by having to chase 11 times in the 15 finals they have reached since 2000. In seven of those 11 instances India have had to chase over 260. But the batting woes are not limited to just chasing: of the four times that India have batted first in a final they have scored less than 225 twice.

It's ironical that a batting order which boasts Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly -- with 23,734 one-day runs between them -- Rahul Dravid, the man for a crisis, and Virender Sehwag, India's version of the blitzkrieg, has come a cropper so often while playing in a final. The Indian batting line-up has some of the best averages in the game, the highest individual century makers, and a stunning aggregate of runs between them. But if you segregate their performance in tournament finals, their records are comparable with the very-average and bordering-on-poor players in international cricket.

A good opening stand is crucial in any game but even more so in a final when the pressure is up a notch. Analyses of India's finals' troubles should begin with noting that the list of first wicket partnerships makes for horrendous reading; 141, 8, 9, 5, 17, 106, 14*, 6, 4, 19, 8, 6, 22, 15, 62. Perhaps the most telling stat is that none of our batsmen have shown the hunger for a big innings in a final. With the exception of Ganguly, who scored 117 against New Zealand in the ICC Knockout tournament at Nairobi in 2000, none of the batsmen have even reached 90 in a final after 2000.

Ganguly, Tendulkar, Dravid, Sehwag, Yuvraj and Kaif, in 64 innings in finals between them, have scored just eight half-centuries and one century in all. Ganguly's average of 26.54 hides the embarrassing fact that he's scored just 175 runs in 11 finals since that century in Nairobi. Sehwag's tally of 286 runs at an average of 26 includes an innings of 82 in a lost cause against Australia in the World Cup final and two not-out innings in the washed-out finals of the ICC Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka in 2002. Dravid has got off to starts in seven out off 11 finals but has consistently failed to grind out a match-winning innings. Yuvraj and Kaif are yet to prove that their heroic partnership at Lord's was not a mere flash in the pan. Both have failed to cross 50 in a final since.

India's stellar batsmen have always overshadowed the bowlers. This truth applies not only to successes but to failures as well. If India's batsmen are generous with their wickets in a final, the bowlers become experts at the art of pie-throwing. The memory of Ricky Ponting being fed juicy steaks on the leg stump at the World Cup final was not a solitary occurrence. India have conceded over 300 thrice, 290 and above thrice and over 260 twice, in their last 15 finals. With the exception of Harbhajan Singh, all the others, the fast bowlers in particular, have appalling records in finals. Ajit Agarkar has a bowling average that dwarfs Bradman's batting average. Nehra, Zaheer, Agarkar and Pathan concede more than 5.50 runs an over.

Barring the NatWest series final, the three times India have scored more than 250 in finals have all been in lost causes: once batting first and twice chasing. India's finals-woes tend to feed off each other: the batsmen crumble under pressure because they often are faced with tall targets and on the occasions when they do make 250 plus, it is seldom enough. India have successfully dethroned South Africa as supreme chokers of the one-day game. Even between 2001-03 when India's claim to be the second best ODI team in the world was legitimate, the silverware on offer continued to elude them.