On any given Friday, Saturday or Sunday, it seems this Indian batting line-up can overhaul any total. In the NatWest Series final (played on a Saturday), it was 325 they hunted down. Two months later, on a Sunday, they made an English target of 270 look puny at the ICC Champions Trophy, on a pitch where no team had ever chased more than 243 in a winning cause. Today, on a surface that looked more docile than Sleeping Beauty, a West Indian total of 324 was gobbled up with 14 balls to spare. That's the good news… While the crackers go off and songs of praise are written for Rahul Dravid's magnificent innings, India would do well to reflect on the less savoury aspect of their cricket. Namely, what on Earth are the bowlers doing, leaving their batsmen to perform the equivalent of a moon landing every other match? Sadly, objectivity has no place in the Indian psyche and bowlers get away with sins that deserve solitary confinement, and worse.

If anyone tried to make out a case for this Indian bowling line-up being world-class, it would be thrown out of court in two seconds, provided the judge hadn't succumbed to paroxysms of laughter first. When they're good, they're ordinary – without Zaheer Khan, even that's unlikely – and when they're bad, they're atrocious.

With the exception of Harbhajan Singh, who's had a poor series until today, and Murali Kartik, who applied some salve to gaping wounds, the bowling today was begging for the poison-pen treatment. Javagal Srinath went for 71 from nine overs, while Ashish Nehra, who Chris Gayle treated as a starving dog would a bone, was a picture of economy - conceding 53 from his five. Leaving aside the 20 overs bowled by Harbhajan and Kartik, you have 30 overs that went for 248. Whether the pitch be a shirtfront or a featherbed, that's dire stuff.

In four matches so far in this series, India have conceded 1189 runs in 199.2 overs. That's an economy rate of 5.96. They've picked up a measly 18 wickets, at 66.06. Ajit Agarkar and Anil Kumble – an unlikely suspect – were the main offenders earlier in the series, but their replacements have proved to be just as inept. One-day cricket is a batsman's game, but let's face it, you don't see Glenn McGrath or Shaun Pollock going for 6.5 runs an over, match in, match out.

India's bowlers were saved further embarrassment today because their West Indian counterparts were even more indisciplined and inept. Dravid and Sanjay Bangar – given not out when only 12, after the umpire suffered momentary night blindness – reeled the line in effortlessly in the final stages, with more than a little help from Carl Hooper and friends.

The cock-eyed optimist will whoop up this win and sit a little more securely on the World Cup bandwagon. But the realist will look at the shocking bowling effort and crease his brow. When Zaheer comes back, it won't be a minute too soon. Even then, if the rest of the crew continue to throw pies, the only cup Sourav Ganguly will be picking up in South Africa is a china one. And it won't runneth over.

Dileep Premachandran is assistant editor of Wisden.com in India.

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