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NEWS ICC Champions Trophy 2006>Champions Trophy: Players who need to deliver for India 04th Oct 2006 22.38 IST By Manish Kumar Virender Shewag , Yuvraj Singh , Mohammad Kaif , Mahendra Dhoni and Irfan Pathan have run out of form in the run-up to the Champions Trophy. Apart from Sachin Tendulkar and skipper Rahul Dravid , the Indian team depends on these players to come good to perform well in the Champions Trophy that starts from Saturday.
In five of these matches, Sehwag was has been made to bat in the middle order in the name of experimentation and the results have been nothing but disastrous as he has returned with just 20 runs from the tri-series in Kuala Lumpur. Yuvraj was in the form of his life just prior to the tri-series in Kuala Lumpur and averaged 51.20 in the forty matches he played during that green patch and made 1536 runs including five centuries and eight half-centuries. But in the last nine matches, Yuvraj has scored just 214 runs (average 26.75) which includes two ducks in the tri-series in Kuala Lumpur. Kaif has also been shuttled up and down the order in the name of experimentation. The UP captain has opened the innings and batted at every position, from number three to seven, in the thirty four matches he has played under Dravid and Chappell and has returned with an average of 36.30 (835 runs), including a century and six half-centuries. With three fifties in the West Indies, Kaif seems to have overcome a dry patch when he made just 53 runs in eleven matches but he was not selected to in the playing XI in two matches in the tri-series in Kuala Lumpur. Dhoni, who has captured the imagination of an entire nation, has failed to live up to the reputation recently averaging less than 20 runs in ten matches and his last half-century was against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi in April. Dhoni has been a key figure in the Indian line-up ever since he burst on the scene making 1,230 runs (average 45.55), including one century and eight half centuries in the forty three matches he has played in the Dravid-Chappell regime, but of late has a run of low scores. Pathan’s problems have more to do with the ball than with the bat. From being the pace spearhead to being dropped from the playing XI, life seems to have come a full circle for the all-rounder in the making who has opened, batted at number three and has had a decent run of it, but with the ball, has gone for over six runs an over in almost every match. In the thirty-seven matches under Dravid and Chappell, Pathan has made 628 runs (average 28.54), including four fifties. He has opened in one innings and batted at number three in twelve – with mixed results, three half-centuries and as many single-digit scores. But Pathan's bowling in West Indies and in the tri-series in Kuala Lumpur has become a cause for concern as he has conceded over six runs an over on average. All these players undoubtedly have the talent and determination to come good and that is exactly what the Indian fan would be hoping for in the Champions Trophy. Also View In-Depth Coverage: ICC Champions Trophy 2006 Team Page: India Team Page: Australia | LIVE CRICKET COVERAGE NEWS ~ Gilchrist has no plans to retire after World Cup ~ Ganguly's new batting approach may cost him sixer record ~ India 'squash the Orange' in World Cup warm-up game ~ Symonds gets a new hairdo for World Cup ~ Dhoni readies himself for stand-up act at World Cup (more in NEWS) FACE-TO-FACE ~ 500-mark a possibility in World Cup: Hayden ~ Minnows add charm to World Cup: Dravid (more in FACE-TO-FACE) COLUMNS ~ Will Sri Lanka replicate 1996 World Cup success? (more in COLUMNS) OFF-THE-FIELD ~ Ganguly again the darling of corporate world ~ Ganguly roped in as brand ambassador of Puma (more in OFF-THE-FIELD) PLAYERS Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble (more PLAYERS) TEAMS India, South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Australia, West Indies, Zimbabwe, England, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Kenya, Holland | 
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