The worse news is that the game will be played tomorrow (Friday), weather gods permitting.

Before going into why the postponement is bad, a quick look at what happens if rain persists and makes play impossible on the morrow. In that event Australia, with its marginally better run rate - 4.91, as against India's 4.71 - will go through to the final. And India will go home, with perhaps a tinge of regret for not having scored at a brisker rate against Zimbabwe in the previous encounter, despite being aware at that stage that its run rate was below Australia's.

Now for the postponement. It goes without saying that putting off the match in toto is still much the better option, as against a late start and a 25-overs-a-side affair as was being contemplated when the sky looked to be clearing and the ground staff got busy mopping up. A game that spans 25 overs per team is a mere lottery - on par with deciding the fate of the football World Cup on the basis of a penalty shootout.

But spare a thought for the players on both sides. Knowing that this is the big one, having waited for three days - in the case of the Australians, five days - nerves would have been screwed wire taut. It is difficult, once a postponement is announced, to let the adrenalin settle, then get it back up a day later. There is just that little slump of the shoulder, just that little relaxation of nerves and mind, that makes all the difference to on-field performance.

What is worse is that the side that wins - whether India, or Australia - will then have to play the final the very next day. And that, considering that the opponents are no less than the brilliant Sri Lankans, is going to be very, very hard.

And it is when you contemplate the necessity of a player, a team having to lift itself up for two 100 per cent performances on successive days that you realise that the modern cricketer is worth every penny of the money he is earning.

Back to the India versus Australia fixture. The odds, on paper, would appear to favour Australia. Healy's side has a good batting lineup of attractive strokeplayers - Slater and Mark Waugh for the start, with Ricky Ponting, Michael Bevan and Steve Waugh to follow besides the combative skipper Ian Healy. The bowling looks equally good, with Paul Reiffel, Glenn McGrath and Damien Fleming proving both parsimonious and penetrative, while the Waugh broth- ers, Bevan and Bradd Hogg have been good in support. Superb run- ning between wickets, and very good outcricket, rank among the team's greatest strengths.

On paper, the Indian batting with Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, Mohammad Azharuddin, Vinod Kambli and Ajay Jadeja, looks equally impressive - with Tendulkar himself being easily the best player on either side. With Srinath and Prasad spearheading, and the rejuvenated Kumble and the confident Sunil Joshi in support, the bowling looks good enough to contain the Aussies. Where India lacks is in the intangibles, the nuances that make all the difference between a good performance and a great one.

Running between wickets, for instance, remains a bugbear. The great one-day sides follow a simple philosophy - off every ball, they look to score a run at the very least. And go for the boundaries only if the ball is bad enough to be hit with impunity. The Indian mindset, though, dictates that the ball be hit with everything the batsman has - and singles are thought of only when fours are not forthcoming for some time.

Equally lacking the competitive edge is the Indian out-cricket. Though considerably improved in the recent past, the Indian fielders are yet to come close to the athleticism, the sheer desperation the top fielding sides show on the field. The theory that a run saved is one run the batsmen don't have to make hasn't, seemingly, taken root in the team's collective consciousness as yet.

And yet, I wouldn't write off this Indian team in a hurry... as has happened so often in the past, this side is capable of surprising its critics with one great, out-of-its-skin effort just when it is least expected.

One thing you can take to the bank - if the skies clear and the game goes forward on Friday, the SSC will witness one humdinger of a game.

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