Uneasy is the head on which lies the burden of captaincy-or-How the Indian cookie crumbled in Durban.

The first ODI match between India and South Africa was cancelled because of heavy rain, so when the second match started on time on November 22, expectations were high. The Indian team had disappointed its supporters with its performance in the Champions Trophy, and Dravid and Sachin had promised to make amends in South Africa.

The match started well for India, and Zaheer Khan, who was back in the side bowled his heart out and took the crucial wickets of Graeme Smith and Bosman. Unfortunately for India, it was Kallis's day and he went on to hit an unbeaten 119. He was ably supported by A.B. de. Villiers who hit a strokeful 41. Harbhajan was tormented by Kallis and he went for 59 runs from his 10 overs and failed to pick up a wicket. I wish the management plays Kumble in the next match, or we are going to be hit for another 300 or 400 runs.(Anyway we could not chase 248 so imagine our plight chasing mammoth totals)

Agarkar and Munaf Patel also bowled pretty well to restrict the Proteas to 248.

When Sachin and Wasim Jaffer walked out to open the Indian batting, I had a feeling that this would not click(I just reached home in time before the Indian innings started at 10 P.M.)Now I wish I had watched some other channel. Jaffer's ODI debut ended in a big disappointment with his stumps being dislodged by Pollock. How do you expect a new guy to open the innings, that too on a bouncy track? Then Kaif walked in and he went into defensive mode. At the other end Sachin produced some boundaries. Then Kaif departed, caught by Gibbs at point. Then Dravid came and he just scored 18. Then... the cookie crumbled and the famed Indian batting order was skittled out for just 91. I have added the Indian scorecard, courtesy of Cricbuzz to highlight our miserable form-

Batting: India Innings
Batsmen
India (91/10 in 29.1 ovs)
Runs
Balls
4's
6's
SR
Wasim Jaffer
b S Pollock
0
3
0
0
0.00
Sachin Tendulkar
b A Nel
35
51
5
0
68.63
Mohammad Kaif
c H Gibbs b S Pollock
8
19
1
0
42.11
Rahul Dravid (c)
b C Langeveldt
18
25
3
0
72.00
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk)
c M Boucher b A Nel
14
27
3
0
51.85
Suresh Raina
c J Kallis b A Nel
4
12
0
0
33.33
Dinesh Mongia
c J Kemp b J Kallis
1
9
0
0
11.11
Harbhajan Singh
lbw b J Kallis
1
4
0
0
25.00
Ajit Agarkar
b J Kallis
6
16
1
0
37.50
Zaheer Khan
c M Boucher b A Nel
1
8
0
0
12.50
Munaf Patel
not out
0
3
0
0
0.00
Extras:
b - 0, w - 1, nb - 2, lb - 0
3

Total:(91 for 10 in 29.1 overs)
91
Run Rate: 3.1

Now tell me what should we do as loyal supporters, the meagre total ruffled feathers in the Parliament with MPs asking Chappell to be sacked. I still believe Dada should be brought back. He has the best batting average for an Indian in South Africa and Laxman deserves justice.

The latest news is that Vengsarkar has flown to South Africa for important talks with the team and coach. Let us hope India at least puts up a fight on Sunday for the third match.

Hope we win or atleast lose by a smaller margin