Date-stamped : 03 Jan97 - 14:22 31 December 1996 Lack of motivation in Indian cricket team By Kishore Bhimani DURBAN, Dec 30: If one is to search desperately for a silver lin- ing in the otherwise miserable tour of this beautiful country, it is that the early finish to the opening Test match has permitted a one-dayer against the Natal side. The Indians had complained of lack of match practice. now they will alt least get some on the very track that saw their batsmen come apart over the weekend. Thousands had visited Durban over the long holiday weekend in the hope of seeing competitive cricket but they left in sour mood. Within two short weeks, a team that had laid the South African low on home soil is now struggling to take the matter to a fourth day. The problem surely lies elsewhere as all those who follow Indian cricket well know. It began with the team selection a totally thoughtless exercise which brought a number of permanent passenger into the side like Pankaj Dharmani, Saba Karim and even Vikram Rathore, who will be lucky to play any more on this tour. They left behind what should have been India`s opening pair, Navjot Sidhu and Ajay Jadeja. They also ignored the claims of Sanjay Manjrekar whose sheer straight bat play might have been the answer to the South Africans. W.V. Raman has been tried and discarded more than once, but in the vain search for new openers he was revived. Now the team management is left with nothing more than a chop and change option with what is available. Mongia might be brought back up on top. Raman can get one more chance and there will be a straight swap between Johnson and Ganesh. The choices are not very many. Apart from team selection, there was the thorny issue of lack of motivation and application. In the euphoric aftermath of the 2 to 1 victory in India, it was thought by The Management and the new captain that all was well back at the ranch. Now the cracks are showing. Azharuddin played flamboyant cricket at first Calcutta and then at Kanpur and it came off, but someone will have to tell him that on the law of averages, luck has to run out and that he should buckle down to the kind of longer innings he used to play as captain. Tendulkar has the additional problem of his personal lack of form, so he does not have much time and energy left over for counseling and Madan Lal is too new to the job for the all- important fire-fighting job required now. And it does not look like there is going to be any letup in the South African firepower. The wicket at Newlands in Cape Town used to favor draws, but locals say that word has gone out to liven it up and make it as play as the Kingsmead shorter. Hansie Cronje promised a 4 against 2 Test match score overall, and it looks like he wants wickets to keep the promise. For the South Africans, well they face the embarrassment of riches. You can`t very well change a winning team so Klusener gets another chance. Brian McMillan was on the borderline before Durban but the Indians appeared to have played him back in the side. And Adam Bacher has looked so good that some of the other huge talents here in South Africa will have to wait for their turn. The weather factor cannot be ignored. in Durban, there had been frequent rain prior to the start of the first Test, but things remained dry once the match began. Cape Town is notorious for its mid simmer rain, and there has been forecast of heavy showers over the next day or two in eastern Cape. But western Cape, where Cape Town is situated might just escape the wet spell. But surely the biggest casually at Newlands will be what should have been huge holiday crowds. Ticket Sales have been poor. There are not too many people of Indian origin in Cape Town and if things look too one-sided they will rather sip their festive drinks and watch on TV. Source :: Dawn (http://xiber.com/dawn) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)