Ganguly let down in the crunch

India's bowlers are failing their captain even as history beckons.

Some things are just waiting to happen. The wheel, Eminem, headphones with the loop running behind the neck rather than over the top of the head, losing the toss on an Oval shirtfront when you have a sparkling batting line-up and a handy spin combination in a series that you so want to win after playing the perfect match a fortnight previously.

The flip of the coin yesterday was a severe reverse for Sourav Ganguly and India. Arjuna Ranatunga taught us four summers ago that conceding 445 in the first innings at the Oval can be quite irrelevant, but it is not too early for some of us to begin contemplating another one that has slipped away from India.

Three times in the past year alone, India have had a chance of winning a series away - which is rarer than it sounds. Each time the fall has been at the last hurdle. Now a draw is the best they can hope for, and the nation really should be chuffed with 1-1 in the series; yet already there is a lingering disappointment.

Take Zimbabwe last summer. Brimming over after the cathartic victory against Australia at home, India won the first Test in Bulawayo but in the second, and last, match of the series the batting capitulated to a chap called Andy Blignaut, who at any given point of time has more colours in his hair than Colin Miller does in a season. The series ended 1-1; Blignaut retired to become a professional model.

Sri Lanka were next, two months later, when for the first time in 12 years India left their shores without Sachin Tendulkar. In Kandy, Ganguly played his finest innings as captain - and arguably the best of his career - to square the series after a heavy defeat in the first Test.

Then, in the decider, they came unstuck. Muttiah Muralitharan, astonishingly, twirled his way to eight wickets on the first day on a wonderful bat ting pitch; Hashan Tillekeratne derusted himself sufficiently to score a hundred after two years on the outside; and Thilan Samaraweera, picked for his off-spin, smashed a century on debut from No8.

The ghost was presumed to have been laid in the West Indies this year. A soul-lifting victory arrived at India's favourite overseas venue - Port of Spain, Trinidad - but that was followed by defeats in matches three and five of the series.

One time when it did not get away, though, was at the Oval itself in the last Test in 1971. Then, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar, a quick spinner with a polio wrist and a mystical quality, freewheeled his way to six wickets in 18 overs. An Indian supporter was reported to have brought an elephant to the ground, and Ajit Wadekar's men returned home to a motorcade.

Ganguly is already past Wadekar in terms of win percentage and number of overseas victories. His next target must be to win a series outside the subcontinent - Wadekar did that twice - and so be remembered as the Indian leader who made winning abroad possible for the first time since the early 1970s.

There was not much Ganguly could have done yesterday, though. The bowling was simply flat, and the pitch flatter.

Ajit Agarkar, after a creditable effort at Headingley, once again returned to his frustrating formula: pitch short, if hit for four pitch short again, if hit for four more, well, pitch short again.

Anil Kumble, when asked to contain from round the wicket to a six-man leg-side field, could not keep Michael Vaughan from charging him and habitually - beautifully - finding an impossible gap. Defence, for a while in the evening, proved to be the worst form of defence.

By stumps, the imposing gasholder on the perimeter of the ground had sunk to the floor and the billboard expressing Alec Stewart's hope of bringing back the Ashes looked even more conspicuous. Even after a fine day in the sun, far too smug.

India's series of dead ends

India v Zimbabwe May-June 2001, series drawn 1-1

SS Das chases responsibly as India win the first Test. But they miss the chance of a series win because two sub-par batting displays in Harare consign them to defeat.

India in Sri Lanka Aug-Sept 2001, series lost 2-1

India meet a stiff target of 264 to square the series in Kandy, but lose the last Test by an innings and 77 runs after Muralitharan takes eight wickets on the opening day.

India in West Indies April-May 2002, series lost 2-1

One match up going into the third Test in Barbados, but West Indies hit back with a 10-wicket win. Series lost by poor first-innings bowling and batting in Jamaican decider.