Not all Wright

Indian cricket coach John Wright said Sunday his team had to quickly regain confidence ahead of the World Cup after a long run of failures on the current New Zealand tour.

A lack of confidence among the batsmen has become one of India's biggest problems as they tamely lost both the Test and one-day series against New Zealand.

The tourists lost each of the two Tests inside three days and then suffered four successive defeats in the ongoing series of seven one-day internationals.

"It's certainly a wake-up call ahead of the World Cup (starting in South Africa next month)," said Wright, a former New Zealand captain.

"The trouble at the moment is some of the batsmen have lost their touch and their confidence has gone. It's important that we don't lose the self-belief and ability to win the World Cup."

The Indian batting has struggled for the entire tour against a disciplined, although not hostile, New Zealand pace attack on seamer-friendly pitches.

Batting superstar Sachin Tendulkar and reliable Rahul Dravid both scored more than 1,000 Test runs last year, but each could manage just one half-century in four Test innings in New Zealand.

Skipper Saurav Ganguly and Venkatsai Laxman had more than 900 Test runs each to their credit last year, but neither could make any impression on the current tour.

India have crossed the 200-mark just once in four Test and four one-day innings.

And they were twice shot out for their lowest-ever total of 108 in the shorter version of the game.

Worse, the tourists have not even managed to bat out their full quota of 50 overs in any of the one-dayers.

Tendulkar's fitness has added to the batting problems with the champion batsman missing the first four one-dayers due to an ankle injury.

"It has been a difficult tour for our batsmen. There's no doubt about it. They haven't got runs in these conditions," said Wright, who has been with the team for the past two years.

"It's the worst phase of my career (as India's coach). We've got to turn it around. That starts with me, the captain, the senior players and everyone involved.

"It (the tour) has not been enjoyable. I've always been very proud to have been given the opportunity to be the India coach and I think it's the greatest cricketing nation in the world.

"I was pleased with the team's efforts throughout the last year, but we've come to a bit of stop here. It's not easy. When you are losing, the challenge is all the more."

India did remarkably well in one-dayers last year, winning a series in the West Indies, the NatWest Trophy in England and then sharing the Champions Trophy with Sri Lanka following the rain-hit final at Colombo.

Wright said it was necessary for the team to do better in the remaining three one-dayers in order to regain confidence.

"We have to salvage some pride and self-belief in the remaining matches," he said.

"We are all disappointed with the results, but we must not lose our focus and need to perform better out there in the middle. This is where all my energy is going at the moment."

Wright said the Indian seamers' performance was the only plus point of the tour as they did their best despite the batsmen's failures.

"The bowlers have certainly done their job," said Wright.

"They fought hard and that was very pleasing. To be fair to bowlers, it has been tough for them because they had virtually nothing to bowl at."