The seven-batsman theory might be in jeopardy

Probably not. For the sad story of the Indian batting continues, even in the World Cup - seven batsmen and yet not enough runs.

In the match against Netherlands at Paarl, it was Sanjay Bangar, Ashish Nehra, Ajit Agarkar and Parthiv Patel who missed making it to the playing eleven. The People's XI, in contrast, did not have Nehra, Mongia, Kumble and Parthiv Patel in it. Interesting that Kumble received only 48.57% of votes and Mongia only 31.03 %.

There seems to be some sort of a warning signal for the Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly too. He was voted in at the ninth position in The People's XI. It must be noted that above 17% of the voters did not pick Ganguly in their team.

When it came to the match, India opened with Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar, with Virender Sehwag coming in at number three. While that came as something of a surprise what did not was India going in with seven batsmen and four bowlers, who incidentally included both the spinners.

Would seven batsmen do what six batsmen can't? Let us look at the evidence, which would help you decide whom you should be voting for.

Based on the statistics, someone like Mohammad Kaif must count himself to be very lucky to find himself in the playing eleven. Sanjay Bangar with 160 runs at 20.00 holds the edge over him. Even an Ajit Agarkar with 117 runs at 19.50 is faring better.

There is hardly anything to be done with the four bowlers; Kumble and Srinath picking up four wickets each against the Netherlands have virtually sealed their place. Zaheer Khan, meanwhile, is probably the spearhead of India's bowling, whilst no one dare drop the Turbanator against Australia!

In the final analysis, either India stays with their seven batsmen or drops one of them to include either Bangar or Agarkar. You might have different thoughts about all this - for The People's XI's is the democratic choice!