Ahmedabad: The Ides of March have just been left behind by the people but they seem to have struck late at the star-studded Indian squad with a vengeance.
The star-packed order, missing only Sachin Tendulkar because of a groin injury, was bowled out for a meager 76 before lunch on the first day of a Test, by the South African pace trio of Makhaya Ntini, Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel at the Sardar Patel Gujarat Stadium at Motera on Thursday.
No Indian batsman, including Tendulkar's replacement Irfan Pathan who top-scored with an unbeaten 21, looked comfortable against the fiery South Africa pace attack, which had conceded over 650 runs in the series opener, on a wicket that held hardly any devil despite sporting a tinge of green on it.
The battle seemed to have been lost more in the mind by the over-hyped line-up, which put up one of the worst-ever batting displays in the 76-year history of Indian cricket to return the seventh-worst total.
As every keen follower of the game in the country knows, "Summer of 42", when the team folded up for 42 in tough batting conditions with the ball being swung and seamed alarmingly by the English trio of Geoff Arnold, Chris Old and Mike Hendrick at Lord's in June, 1974, is the worst-ever performance by an Indian batting line-up.
India's second lowest score at home is 75 against West Indies in Delhi in 1987 when fast bowler Pattrick Patterson took 5 for 24 from 8.5 overs while the earlier lowest score in Ahmedabad was 103 against the West Indies in 1983.
Ironically, South Africa hold the dubious record of registering the lowest score in a Test when they were bowled out for only 36 runs in 23.2 overs against Australia at Melbourne in 1932.
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