Australia romp home by nine wickets After struggling against the Netherlands at Paarl, India were going into their crucial tie against Australia at the SuperSport Park, Centurion, very low on confidence indeed - not a good way to face Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee and Jason Gillespie. After Lee removed Sourav Ganguly and Virender Sehwag, Gillespie turned in a striking spell of 10-2-13-3 to have India reeling. Sachin Tendulkar hung around long enough to top-score with 36, but India could only muster 125 all out in 41.4 overs, and that thanks to a 32-ball cameo of 28 from Harbhajan Singh. That target was hardly likely to test Australia, and once Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden moved into belligerent mode, the match was as good as over. Gilchrist hit 48, Hayden made 45 off 49 balls, and Ricky Ponting bustled into 24 runs off as many balls, seeing Australia home by nine wickets. India's campaign in the World Cup has thus definitely not gotten off on the right foot, and their next game at Harare against Zimbabwe is virtually a must-win for them.

Ganguly left clueless by Australia drubbing Sourav Ganguly conceded that he was clueless on how to revive his team's fortunes after their nine-wicket drubbing at the hands of champions Australia on Saturday. "I don't know what the reason is," a downcast Ganguly told reporters after his team slumped to a nine-wicket loss. The Indian skipper faced a barrage of questions on India's continued poor batting and the team's apparent inability to recover from a poor tour of New Zealand just before the tournament. Asked if the team could rediscover their form, he replied: "If we keep on batting like this, obviously I don't have any answer. Somehow we have to put runs on the board." India only just passed 200 in a low-key win over the Netherlands on Wednesday and had no answer against Australian pace attack on a good batting wicket. Ganguly said: "It is time for us to get away, individually, and think how to improve." He himself has been struggling himself, with 17 runs in two Cup innings. But Ganguly brushed aside suggestions that he should drop down the order. "I have scored all my runs at the top. I am going through one of those phases," he said. "As captain, I am the first person to know I should score. But there is no point talking about the batting order." Ganguly, though, hinted there could be second thoughts on retaining Sachin Tendulkar as an opener. India had a good run of results in 2002, when Tendulkar was dropped to number four to control run chases. "That was one of the reasons Sachin was pushed down," he said. "Maybe we have to do a re-think."

McGrath needles Tendulkar yet again It emerges that Sachin Tendulkar and Glenn McGrath were involved in a minor slanging match during India's nine-wicket defeat at SuperSport Park, Centurion on Saturday. "There was one pull shot he (Tendulkar) had, and I just mentioned to him 'make sure you pick the right one to have a pull at' and he had a go at me for not bowling at the stumps," McGrath said, while explaining the incident. "I said, 'Why would I?' You always smash me when I bowl straight'. For him to have a go at me for not bowling at the stumps meant I was frustrating him and doing my job well. Normally, he says more to me than I say to him, I've noticed in the past," McGrath added.

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