India's disastrous run in international cricket continued as they went down tamely to England in the 1st ODI at Trent Bridge. Put into bat after Michael Vaughan won the toss, the Indian batting came a cropper once again as they were bowled out for a modest total. The out of form Virender Sehwag fell cheaply once again. Sehwag's failure is a big cause of concern for the Indians especially since Sachin is out of the tournament.

Ganguly and Laxman strung a half century partnership together and just when it seemed like India were getting back some kind of form another batting collapse began. The most disappointing aspect of India's batting was that most of the batsman threw their wickets away after getting their eye in. While Laxman had a tentative poke outside off-stump, Ganguly and Dravid fell to uncontrolled pull shots.

The totally out of sorts Mhd. Kaif finally got some runs but this time there was no one to support him. Running between the wickets has never been India's strength, but they will have to really work hard on this aspect of the game if they want to be competitive in the shorter version of the game. Even a good runner like Yuvraj got himself run-out and that too of a no ball to add to India's woes.

After the upper half of the batting collapsed, there was no resistance from the tail either as Steve Harmison ran through the lower half picking up a hat-trick. India committed the cardinal sin of not batting out the whole of 50 overs. Amazingly all the batsmen seem to have lost form drastically. One cannot even put it down to rustiness now that they have competed in a couple of tournaments.

Even in the bowling department everyone sans Balaji struggled to trouble the batsman. Irfan Pathan is discovering that international cricket is not a bed of roses. But he will certainly come out as a better bowler after these not so pleasant times with the ball. The biggest worry for India though is Anil Kumble. India's most consistent performer in the bowling department failed to make any impact on the batsman. His form in the earlier tournament wasn't great too. But the batsman will have to take most of the blame for the defeat in the 1st ODI as they put up a paltry total on the board.

Apart from batting and bowling, India also struggled in the fielding department- a very important aspect of one-day cricket. Guys like Yuvraj and Kaif have certainly made a huge difference to the fielding standards in the team but some of the others are not up to what is required at the international level. Too many easy singles and misfields don't help when you are not defending a huge score.

Overall India was outplayed by England in every aspect of the game. Their poor run continues but they cannot allow this to go on any longer or else there is serious trouble ahead for India. With just a day's break, India have a lot of things to work on before they take the field on Friday for the 2nd ODI. This present team can perform a lot better than what they have done lately. And they will know this better than anyone else.

There are still a couple of matches to go and if India can show some guts and gumption, we can expect a more even contest between the two teams in the remaining matches. For this to happen, the batsman will have to pull up their socks and score some big runs at the top of the order. If is often batsman who win you one-day matches. With a huge score on board, the bowlers will have the confidence to defend it. And some much needed support from the fielders will definitely help matters.

They only have to look as far back as four months when they comprehensively defeated Pakistan putting all the above mentioned basics to use effectively. So there is no reason why they cannot do it again. All they need is to get some self-confidence back and show more energy and spirit in their play. Just a couple of wins and India may well be underway.