The Indian lower-order

Mohandas Menon

Since June 1996, India has played 23 Tests abroad, they have won two and lost 10, with 11 matches drawn. During this period, the last five Indian wickets have added just 106 runs to the total, as against the 190 runs added by the last five Indian wickets at home.

India's worst performance came when it lost four wickets for just seven runs against England at Nottingham in 1996. From a score of 204-5 the Indians slumped to 211-9 in the second innings.

The other bad performance was when India, from 68-5, was dismissed for 100 -- losing five wickets for 32 runs at Durban in 1996-97 against South Africa.

Then comes the second innings slump on the fourth day in the recent Test at Harare, from 199-5 to 234 all out -- 35 runs for five wickets.

At Kingston in 1997, India lost its last five wickets for 36 runs -- from 45-5 to 81 all out.

However, India's best performance came in the Cape Town Test in 1996-97, when the last five wickets added 301 runs -- from 58-5 to 369.

In this match, Sachin Tendulkar (169) and Mohammad Azharuddin (115) put on 222 runs for the sixth wicket. India lost the match by 282 runs.

Did you know that Tendulkar, despite being a middle-order batsman, has been involved with a number 11 batsman only on four occasions in his entire Test career. His 10th wicket partnerships are: 31 with Hirwani v Eng at Manchester 1990; 19 with D Ganesh at Cape Town in 1996-97 (see above); 9 with J Srinath at Sydney in 1991-92; and 0 with Srinath at Cape Town 1992-93.

Dravid has been involved only on three occasions -- with partnerships reading as 8, 7 and 0, while Ganguly only twice -- with a 16 and 0.

Perhaps the main three Indian batsmen's inability to stay at the wicket long is one of the reasons for India not faring well with the last five wickets.

Just for the record, Steve Waugh has been involved in last wicket partnerships on 21 occasions, with a highest partnership of 43 runs.