And on the eve of the third and final Test in the Cornhill series against England, a national newsmagazine has cover-paged an article that reads pretty much like an obituary of Azhar's captaincy.

The Indian skipper (seen here with his deputy and heir apparent Sachin Tendulkar) is no stranger to such outcries - in fact, demands for his head have been pretty much a regular a feature of Indian cricket over the last few years. The last time there was such a concerted outcry, however, was in the aftermath of the disastrous 1992-1993 tour of South Africa - and Azhar's reply was to lead India to a 3-0 whitewash of Graham Gooch's England side at home.

The outcry began again in the aftermath of the World Cup defeat to Sri Lanka in the semifinals - on which occasion Azhar, in a marked departure from his usual policy of riding out the storm, decided to hit back at his critics. Dubbing Sunil Gavaskar, who formed one of the 'off with his head' brigade at the time, as ``just jealous'', Azhar pointed out that his record of successes as India's captain was unparalleled.

True, he has led the national side to 12 Test wins - far more than any other skipper in India's chequered history. But of these, 11 were achieved at home, on doctored wickets against op- position that tended to treat spin bowling with all the caution of a bomb disposal expert approaching a strangeseeming par- cel. And despite Azhar's tooting of his own trumpet, the fact remains that the last time India won a series away from home was all of ten years ago - under Kapil Dev, against England.

It is too late for Azhar to aim to rewrite that record - England are already one up in the series, thanks to India's pathetic batting performance in the Edgbaston Test and inability to press home its advantage in the second one, at Lord's. At best, India can by winning the third Test draw the series, and avoid the humiliation of losing to a side that had, before Edgbaston, been universally condemned as the worst of the nine Test playing nations.

The question is, can India win at Trent Bridge?

Normally, the prospects of a team in any Test match is decided on one crucial factor. Like, can the batsman score runs? Or, can the bowlers take wickets? Or, will the fielders hold what comes their way?

India's plight is underscored by the fact that all three questions are valid for the touring squad. In the first Test its batsmen proved inept at making the transition from the slap and tickle style of one day cricket to the hard grind of the longer version. In the second Test, its bowlers proved that their bark was considerably worse than their bite, as they allowed the lower half of the England batting to undo all the damage Srinath and Prasad managed to inflict on the top half. And in both Tests, the fielding was consistently below par.

Possible lineups, thus, can be debated ad infinitum. We can talk of the need to replace the ineffective Mhambrey with Salil Ankola, in order to have the option of using Srinath and Prasad as shock, and not stock, bowlers. (Incidentally, I keep wondering why the team think tank never thought of using Sachin Tendulkar as a stock bowler - the little dynamo is a thinking trundler, capable of tying one end up and thus providing Azhar the option of using his two main bowlers in short, sharp bursts). We can debate the wisdom of including Narendra Hirwani or Venkatapathy Raju in the side, taking our cue from England's decision to recall leg-spinner Ian Salisbury. We could even signal our aggressive intentions by dropping Ajay Jadeja in order to accomodate not the fit-again Sanjay Manjrekar, but an additional bowler.

But I suspect that this last Test will be won, and lost, in the minds of the eleven Indian players who are finally picked to do duty.

It will depend on Azharuddin's ability to put his personal problems, the pressures of constant criticism and the knowledge of his continued run of bad form, behind him and lead his men with enthusiasm and, more importantly, purpose.

It will depend on the level to which the individual players can raise their on-field performances with bat, ball and in the field - an area in which India, with its propensity to let its col- lective head droop at the first sign of adversity, is singularly lacking.

And above all, the outcome of the third Test at Trent Bridge will depend not on the Indian lineup, or even on the English one. It will depend, almost entirely, on whether the Indian eleven can go out there with the burning desire to win. The desire to re- turn not as a bunch of disgraced cricketers, but as a team that, having taken unduly long to make the transition from one-day to Test cricket, redeemed its reputation by getting it right for once.

Does that desire exist? The answer to that one is less than 24 hours away, as I write this...