Do you remember this team?: Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Dinesh Mongia, Mohammad Kaif, Yuvraj Singh, Sanjay Bangar, Ajit Agarkar, Harbhajan Singh, Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinathy, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra and Parthiv Patel.
That was the lineup that took India to the final of the 2003 World Cup. And this is how they did - batsmen first:
Dravid: Played 11 matches, ten innings, 5 not outs, 318 runs, a highest of 62 and an average of 63.6
Tendulkar: 11-11-0-673-152-61.2
Ganguly: 11-11-3-465-112-58.1
Yuvraj: 11-10-3-240-58-34.3
Sehwag: 11-11-0-299-82-27.2
Kaif: 11-10-1-182-68-20.2
Mongia: 11-6-0-120-42-20.0
In the batting, what has changed in the span of four years? Kaif and Mongia have fallen by the wayside; in come Uthappa (left) and Karthik (right). Otherwise, the backbone of the team remains the tried and tested campaigners, all of whom are likely playing their final World Cup.
Of the squad, Tendulkar and Ganguly are clearly in form. Dravid has gotten runs and shown touch, without in recent times indicating that he will be the batting anchor of this squad. He could be - but at this point in time, that is in the realm of speculation.
Uthappa and Karthik meanwhile are the unproven quantities. The former makes the squad on the strength of explosive potential at the top of the order - but, intriguingly, has fallen cheap, twice in succession, to the same kind of delivery: lifting off just back of length, just outside off; a line and length that puts the predominant, almost predetermined, front-foot player right in the danger zone.
Karthik has played some good knocks in the late middle order and shown nerve in trying circumstances; given the team composition, though, it is unlikely he will play except in the event of injuries to one or other of the main players.
So is the squad of 2007 better, or worse, in the batting department than the one that did duty four years ago? Tell us.
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