On a turning wicket, A herculean task awaits India's batsmen at the P Sara oval today

Will they pull it off?

On a turning wicket, A herculean task awaits India's batsmen at the P Sara Oval today

As target chasers, India have a record of vulnerability and doubt. More defeats than success litter their result chart down the years.

Sachin Tendulkar, who averages 37.06 in the fourth innings, will be a
key to India's fortunes today. PIC/AFP

Away from home, they are often labouring, mind-games playing their own destructive fears, and this despite the advantage of the "Fab Four" a brand name said to spook the bowlers, it has always come down to moments of inconsistency.

On this tour, in the first Test in Galle it was the "enemy from within" which left them floundering.
Silly shots and the sort of indecisive strokeplay that left the side battling to find an identity that is worth remembering. So much experience yet so little achievement to remember.

Today, they face the day of truth at P Sara Oval and the chance of squaring the series 1-1 looking as decidedly shaky as BPs efforts to plug the Gulf of Mexico oil well. Two of the restructured new "Fab Four" have already departed, trapped by their inability to overcome the psychological disasters that seem to be self-created. That self-belief under the management of John Wright and captaincy of Sourav Ganguly and carried over into the Rahul Dravid era is no longer in place.

Dravid's luck and magic seems to have deserted him on this tour of the emerald isle.

His dismissal yesterday when he was fooled by a delivery from the new off-spin find Suraj Randiv was as debilitating as was the earlier dismissal of Virender Sehwag, whose departure off third ball he faced, feeding a catch to Mahela Jayawardene, left India realising that the task of scoring 257 to level the series will be a tough one.

It was the Sehwag dismissal, with the innings only 11 balls old, that shook the Indian confidence.
Sehwag will be wondering about the Randiv jinx.

He was Randiv's first Test victim at the Sinhalese Sports Club when on the charge at 99 and eager for a six to bring up what would have then been his 21st century. If anything, this second dismissal in the Test series makes you wonder what Sehwag was thinking.

Sure there is still batting talent waiting to put a total together, but with the pitch taking more turn as the day wore on, India's challenge is now to show more circumspection against the spinners as the ball is fizzing off faster and the reason for Dravid misreading the length; possibly Sehwag as well.

When it went wrong...
Vs England, 2006
The Wankhede Stadium saw India's meek surrender while chasing 312. Only three batsmen managed to reach double figures as India were bowled out for 100.
Vs Australia, 2008
FEW decisions at the Sydney Cricket Ground went against India but the fact that they made a mess of their 333-run chase cannot be ignored. India could have drawn the game but lost the last three wickets on 210 a few minutes before the end.

Last in SL...
in Kandy, 2001
The last time India chased down a target in Sri Lanka came almost a decade ago when they got 264 losing just three wickets in the process.
Rahul Dravid made 75 and skipper Sourav Ganguly led from the front, remaining unbeaten on 98.

When they Did it...
Vs England, 2009
Set to chase 387 in Chennai, India came good thanks to a 68-ball 83 from Virender Sehwag. Sachin Tendulkar (103*), Yuvraj Singh (85*) and Gautam Gambhir 66 did their bit too.
Vs Pakistan, 2007
In a low-scoring match in Delhi where the highest total was India's 276, the hosts needed 202 to win. Wasim Jaffer (53), Sachin Tendulkar (56) and Sourav Ganguly (48) did enough to secure a six-wicket win.