22 September 2004	Wednesday	06 Shaban 1425

NEW DELHI, Sept 21: Indian cricket fans sought divine help on Tuesday as the nation's favourite sport lurched from one crisis to another on and off the field ahead of next week's tour by world champions Australia.

The national team was in shambles, star batsman Sachin Tendulkar battled to get fit and a court wrangle over television rights worth US$308m threatened to disrupt one of the most keenly-awaited Test series in recent years.

Meanwhile, the cash-rich Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) was in a state of limbo ahead of next Wednesday's elections with two political heavyweights reportedly eyeing the chair being vacated by president Jagmohan Dalmiya.

"Money can't save Indian cricket, only God can," said Shantanu Bose, a cricket fan in eastern Calcutta, the home of both the national captain Sourav Ganguly and Dalmiya.

Last season's highs when India held the mighty Australians to a 1-1 draw down under and then won a maiden Test series in Pakistan were consigned to the dustbin after Ganguly's men suffered embarrassing defeats in four consecutive limited-overs tournaments.

The Champions Trophy defeat against Pakistan on Sunday was the third successive loss to the arch-rivals since July and followed India's failure to win the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka, a tri-series in the Netherlands and a one-off series against England.

The BCCI, inexplicably, denied Ganguly and company an opportunity to run into form by scheduling the three-day Aussie tour opener, at Bombay from Sept 30, against Ranji Trophy champions Mumbai instead of a select team drawn from all over the country.

Tendulkar, who is uncertain of playing the match, and seamer Ajit Agarkar are the only likely Test contenders in the Mumbai side. -AFP