Mighty Indians teach us a lesson

The mighty Indians have taught us an unforgettable lesson, by defeating the Lions in their own den. Having thrashed Sri Lanka by 147 runs in the third one day international at Premadasa Stadium on Tuesday night, the visitors have taken a winning 3-0 lead in the five match series. Thus, the fourth game scheduled for today and Sunday’s final encounter is only of academic interest, giving Sri Lanka little room to gain its lost prestige.

It appeared that Sri Lanka was living in seventh heaven, having crushed Zimbabwe 5-0 in a series in Harare, winning a Tri-Series in Dhaka and edging out Pakistan 2-1 in an away series. But the fact most of us conveniently ignored was the strength of the opponents we played.

Bangladesh and Zimbabwe are the wooden spoonists in world cricket. There is a vast gap between them and Sri Lanka though we were fully stretched by those lesser known teams. Pakistan team too is currently not at their best.

It was under such a scenario that Sri Lanka emerged victorious in the series in Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and in Pakistan.

As I have pointed out previously, it was obvious that the real test for Sri Lanka would come when we host the Indians in the five-match ODI series.

Bitter Defeats

Having tasted bitter defeats in the first three matches in-a-row, Sri Lanka has already lost the series. All what Mahela Jayawardene and his boys could do now is to win the two remaining games to regain their lost pride. But this is not going to be easy, unless our batsmen make enough runs.

In the first three ODIs, there were single handed batting efforts. Evergreen Sanath Jayasuriya made a blistering century 107 off 114 balls in the first game which Sri Lanka lost by six wickets in Dambulla. It was a game the hosts would have won, if they had put 10-15 runs more on the board.

Thilina Kandambi’s undefeated 93 went down the drain in the second ODI at Premadasa Stadium as none of the other batsman, other than skipper Jayawardene, came to his help. Then in Tuesday’s third game, Kumar Sangakkara made a lone battle to score 83 off 82 balls.

In contrast, almost all Indian batsmen, besides veteran Sachin Tendulkar, were amongst the runs. Tendulkar appeared to be an unfortunate victim of controversial decisions in the first two games.

Nevertheless, the Indian batsmen made merry against the Lankan bowling. Half centuries by Gautham Gambhir (62), Suresh Raina (54) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (61 n.o) helped India to reach the winning target of 247 for the loss of only four wickets in the first ODI.

Yuvraj Singh (66) and Vivendra Sehwag (42) guided the Indians to a winning target of 257 in the second game. But it was in the third game that we saw the Indian run feast at its best.

It looked like an athletic meet as Sri Lankan fielders had to sprint in every direction in a desperate bid to stop attacking stokes by the visiting batsmen. For a moment, many thought that the Indian captain’s decision to take the first lease of the wicket was inappropriate one as they were reduced to 24 for 2 after the first four overs.

It was then that Sehwag (116 off 90 balls) and Yuvraj Singh (117 off 95 balls) started exposing all weak links in the Lankan bowling armoury. They were simply unstoppable in their fruitful 221-run third wicket partnership which took only 167 balls. They punished Lankan bowlers to all corners of the ground as a helpless skipper ran short of options.

When one analyses the first three games, the major difference in batting was the collective effort of the Indian batsmen. Almost all their reputed batsmen were amongst runs. While one or two went on to play big innings, the others chipped in with useful contributions towards the Indian totals.

In contrast, the three Lankan innings had only a silver line each in Jayasuriya, Kandambi and Sangakkara. Unfortunately there were no fellow batsmen to support them. It was back to back useful partnerships that won matches for the Indians.

Batsman Chamara Kapugedara and spinner Ajantha Mendis were the biggest disappointments. Despite numerous opportunities that Kapugedara has got, he has failed to justify his presence in the national team.

He has made scores of only 15, 31 and 2 in the current series and it’s high time that the selectors give this berth to another youngster. Despite playing in 57 ODIs, he has averaged just 21.87. Had Kapugedara played with responsibility and survived a couple of more overs to support Kandambi, Sri Lanka would not have lost the second ODI by 15 runs.

Big Arena

Ajantha Mendis entered the big arena with a bang with some sensational bowling efforts - with his magical carrom ball. But it was mainly against the inexperienced Zimbabwean ,Bangladeshi and Pakistani batsmen - who were clueless about his bowling.

We are not undermining the talents of Mendis in anyway but his early performance seems to have made him a highly overrated player.

A bowler could gain overnight glory but what matters is how that bowler is going to survive in the long run. For example our own champion bowler Muttiah Muralitharan, has been inventing different types of deliveries from time to time.

Once the opponent batsmen get accustomed to a particular bowler, that player will have to keep inventing new deliveries. That is exactly what spin wizard Muralitharan has been doing to maintain his authority and become the highest wicket taker in both the Tests and ODIs.

Likewise, Mendis must keep inventing and trying out different things as opponent batsmen make a complete study of his style and art.

The Indian batsmen seem to have done their home work well to tame Mendis. Unlike Muralitharan, Mendis is not a great turner of the ball. It’s Mendis’ turn now to develop new product to his bowling armoury. If not, he will soon be history as the Indian batsmen have shown early warnings.