With the historic triumphs in Australia and Pakistan fading fast, Sourav Ganguly squares up to a major crisis in his career when India take on England in the second one-day international of the NatWest Challenge at The Oval in London on Friday.
Down 1-0 after the humiliating seven-wicket loss at Trent Bridge on Wednesday, Ganguly and his men must turn the corner at The Oval before it is too late.
Since transforming a talented bunch of non-performers into a world beating side in the last two years, captain Ganguly ackowledges the fact that he now faces the most testing time of his captaincy.
"I will find out how good a captain I am in the next four-five months," he said after his batsmen once again collapsed against a resurgent England.
"It's easy to captain the side when everything goes well like the last two years. It has been a little rough in the last four-five games.
"We have to get together as a side. We would find out how good we are (in coming months)."
A win for England tomorrow will give them an unbeatable lead in the three-match series and leave India with their third disastrous overseas tour in succession.
Nothing has gone right for the Indians this season with defeats coming close in succession in Sri Lanka, Holland and now in England. The team's biggest strength has become its biggest liability and not one but the entire set of their renowned batsmen have been reduced to a cowering presence at the crease.
Individual performances in these three tournaments offer an insight to India's plight. Virender Sehwag has 120 runs from his last seven games, V V S Laxman has 50 runs from six matches and Ganguly himself has 242 runs from nine games and it doesn't look much better from the rest.
Rahul Dravid, the lynchpin of India's batting in recent years, has only 30 runs from the last six matches which has had a demoralising effect on young batsmen such as Yuvraj Singh (150 from nine matches) and Mohammad Kaif (122 from nine games).
Ganguly continues to show faith in his batsmen and asserts that there will not be any change or shift in the batting order but sooner or later, it would come to a pass if India is not going to turn the winning corner.
He said the poor performance of his side was not for want of effort -- but somehow things were not clicking.
"It's to get their mindset right. I know they are trying hard, I can see it in practice, in the gym, in training. It's just not going well."
India's bowlers, who have ridden on the back of batsmen to strangle the opponents are now struggling without the support of runs. Even Irfan Pathan, a usually feisty character, looked weary at Trent Bridge.
Anil Kumble was given a hiding by Andrew Flintoff and his 57 from six odd overs could have a far-reaching effect on his one-day career. He was unlucky as England were not chasing many and Andrew Flintoff was promoted to entertain the packed stands. Kumble was swept aside in the tide of events.
England, on the other hand, have been on roll and looked a vastly superior side. Their pace attack is incisive, fielding brilliant and batsmen are attacking enough to take the fight to the opposition camp.
The pace quartet of Steve Harmison, James Anderson, Darren Gough and Alex Wharf would take some negotiating from the Indians in the next two games. All have a bustling approach to the crease and like to hit the deck hard, relying on bounce and movement to rattle the opponents. The Indians must counter-attack them or it will be too late.
India will go with only cosmetic changes for the second one-dayer and it may come in the form of Ajit Agarkar and Harbhajan Singh coming in place of Ashish Nehra and Anil Kumble.
But the trouble is at the top of the batting order where the first 15 overs are being wasted and far too many wickets are falling early.
Ganguly has had a career where he has thrived in adversity. We could have another proof of it at The Oval or the clouds would only darken for him on the horizon.
Teams:
India: Sourav Ganguly (captain), Virender Sehwag, V V S Laxman, Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Rohan Gavaskar, Harbhajan Singh, Ashish Nehra, Laxmipathy Balaji, Irfan Pathan and Ajit Agarkar.
England: Michael Vaughan (captain), Marcus Trescothick, Vikram Solanki, Andrew Strauss, Paul Collingwood, Geraint Jones, Anthony McGrath, Gareth Batty, Andrew Flintoff, Darren Gough, James Anderson, Steve Harmison, Alex Wharf and Ashley Giles.
