As expected, India comprehensively defeated the depleted Kenyans in their first encounter in the Champions Trophy. Without the services of former captain Maurice Odumbe and leg-spinner Collins Obuya, the African nation struggled to put up a fight against their much-fancied opposition.

After the disaster of the last two months, this was seen as a good opportunity for some of the Indian batters to get their bearings right. But Virender Sehwag, who was reverted to his normal opening position, failed to make any use of it as he swished wildly at a delivery from Odoyo to have his furniture disturbed. It took the skill of Ganguly and the elegance of Laxman to take India to a position of safety.

Earlier Kenya won the toss and put India into bat on a wicket that offered some assistance to the seamers early on. And the Kenyans did make good use of it. Martin Suji and Thomas Odoyo maintained a tight leash on the Indian batsmen. So much so that India managed to reach their 50 only in the 15th over.

However, once the opening bowlers were through with their first spell, the Kenyans could not maintain the momentum and let India of the hook. Both Ganguly and Laxman played sensibly to notch up half-centuries. India were in a strong position to post a challenging total when both of them were dismissed in quick succession. Ganguly got his second consecutive score of 90 while Laxman got some much needed runs ending up with 79. Though Laxman played a lot of his trademark shots, his running between the wickets left a lot to be desired. It did not make much of a difference in this game, but against better oppositions, he will struggle to score quickly if he does not improve his running between the wickets.

Once the duo was dismissed, Kaif and Dravid continued the good work. They put on a whirlwind fifth wicket partnership as India set up an imposing total of 290. Kaif was unfortunate to miss his half-century by a solitary run. Superb running between the wickets and sensible stroke play were the striking features of their partnership. Sending in Kaif at four has made a lot of difference to the Indian batting and it seems he was being wasted at no.7 all this while.

Once the batsmen did their job, it was important for the bowlers to match them. And they did not disappoint. Irfan Pathan, who was struggling a bit in the last few games, grabbed the opportunity with both hands marinating a nice line and length and also picking up a couple of wickets in the process. The 'Turbanator' Harbhajan Singh was just too hot to handle for the inexperienced Kenyans. The classy off-spinner bamboozled the African batsmen and ended up with three wickets carrying on his tremendous comeback into international cricket.

The Indian, however, did not manage to polish off the Kenyan tail. Instead skipper Ganguly decided to give his non-regular bowlers an extended spell as the match slowly progressed towards an Indian victory.

This was India's second consecutive victory following their win at Lords. But there are still quite a few worries for India ahead of the big clash against arch-rivals Pakistan on the 19th. Virender Sehwag throwing his wicket away time and again will certainly cause a few flutters in the dressing room when he goes out to bat. The way he is wielding the willow, expecting a good score from him against Pakistan will be asking for some sought of a miracle. But the Indians will be desperately hoping for such a miracle. Unfortunately, with Tendulkar not playing, we do not have an adequate replacement for Sehwag and hence the Indians cannot even consider dropping him. Yuvraj Singh's form with the bat hasn't been great either. And it is about time he comes up with a substantial knock.

There are a few troubles in the bowling department too. L.Balaji's luck seems to be going from bad to worse as his dreaded form is now followed by an injury leading him to be replaced by an inexperienced Amit Bhandari. Ajit Agarkar's on and off performance won't give the team a lot of confidence when he has the ball in hand. But it would be risky to risky to blood a youngster like Bhandari straight into a huge match against Pakistan. And hence Agarkar is likely to get another chance to prove his worth in the team. The discipline of the bowlers also needs to be seriously looked at. If the continue to give away the number of extras they conceded against Kenya, it could cost them dearly. The fielding at Rose Bowl was quite exceptional. But that was largely due to Kaif and Yuvraj. It is important the other members of the team also raise their fielding standards.

The 'Men In Blue' have regained some form and confidence after the last two victories. But their big test is yet to come. They have fared very badly in their last two encounters against Pakistan. And so this time they have an opportunity to set the record straight. It won't be easy for the Indians, but a combined team effort can pull them through.