T-20 World Cup 2010

Gros Islet, St Lucia: India doesn't need a miracle on Tuesday. They just need to get their basics right. When two players go for a catch, one needs to call out loud and clear. When they go for the extra run, make sure there is a second run. And when they bowl, they need to keep it straight.

Mathematically still in the fray for the last four stage, India take on Sri Lanka in their last Super Eight game on the placid track of St Lucia after being bounced out by Australia and West Indies in the earlier two games at Barbados. The Lankans, meanwhile, have one win and will eye a second to boost their chances of making it to the semis. However, they have been a one-man show so far. They've only won the games in which Mahela Jayawardene has fired. On Sunday he came a cropper against Australia and Sri Lanka went down by 81 runs. Hopefully the Indian team management has made a note of that.

India will also take heart from the fact that they are playing at the Beausejour Cricket Ground where they recorded two handsome wins, especially the one against South Africa on the Sunday before last. On that Sunday, who would have imagined that title contenders India would be almost packing their bags by the next weekend.

But the Men in Blue have paid for their perennial problem of playing on bouncy wickets. Cramped for time and space, they have injudiciously played the pull shot, though not being physically and technically well equipped to challenge such hostile deliveries. As the frazzled Indian stars may have realised by now, merely throwing the bat around at short balls, without getting inside the line or under the ball, won't fetch them the runs.

For India, Harbhajan Singh has been the star performer so far. He has not been among the wickets but undoubtedly he's been the best Indian bowler with all opposition batsmen playing him with respect.

It's time he gets some able support from another full-time spinner and India should drop Ravindra Jadeja and bring in Piyush Chawla. Pacer Ashish Nehra has been among the wickets but has leaked precious runs in the middle, while Zaheer Khan has failed to impress. There is a strong case to bring in R Vinay Kumar in place of Zaheer for the game against the Lankans.