Tuesday, November 6, 2001 The wicket at Bloemfontein did not play too many tricks, the South African bowling did not look particularly threatening, and yet India were staring at defeat, perhaps inside four days. It is a performance the team should be disappointed with.

Shiv Sunder Das continued to fritter away his starts, showing that he hadn't learnt from earlier mistakes. Since making his Test debut, Das has scored just one hundred, against a weak Zimbabwean attack. He has got out cheaply on a few occasions, which is normal for an opener. But his inability to convert his starts has been worrying. As an opener, Das should endeavour to build a long innings, once he has blunted the new ball. Occupying the crease for a long time will help the team too, for it will allow the middle order to play more freely. Das has got all the prerequisites of an opener - he just needs to toughen up mentally.

The regularity with which Sourav Ganguly is falling to the short delivery is alarming. During today's knock, he gestured to play the pull more than once, but that is a difficult option for him, simply because he doesn't get inside the line of the ball. He tends to get beside it, from where it is tough to control the pull. A better option for him would be to try and get his bat and gloves out of the way, even if that might mean getting hit a few times on the body. Currently, his reputation as a quality batsman is spiralling downwards, and it's up to him to figure out a way to arrest the slide.

VVS Laxman remains an enigma. When on song, there is no better sight in cricket. Not only does he dominate the attack, he also plays long innings and doesn't throw his wicket away. His consistency, and his mental strength are still suspect though. Doubts about his temperament surfaced after he got a wonderful 167 in the Sydney Test against Australia in the 1999-2000 series. He was retained in the team for the one-day matches that followed, but failed as an opener in each of them. Opening the innings in one-day matches gave him the best opportunity to get a few big knocks, especially after the ton at Sydney which should have boosted his confidence. But his repeated failures raised question marks that haven't been answered yet. His lack of consistency has prevented him from attaining the stature of a truly world-class player.

One player against whom queries about mental toughness cannot be raised is Virender Sehwag . His approach and mental fortitude has been praiseworthy. He is a keen student of the game, and looks to make up what he might lack in technical perfection, with a shrewd cricketing brain. All he needs is a touch of luck, and he could be a threat even against good bowling attacks.

Sanjay Manjrekar, mainstay of the Indian batting in the late '80s and early '90s, was talking to S Rajesh.

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