Ho(sanna)Jayasuriya
Elmo Rodrigopulle
Today is another day,another wicket and another match - the Compac
Cup final between Sri Lanka and India at the R. Premadasa Stadium under
lights.The Sri Lankans who had no difficulty in stuffing the Indians on
Saturday,should stay focussed and not let complacency set in when they
front up to the Indians and there should be no letting up till the
Compac Cup is held aloft by captain Kumar Sangakkara.
On Saturday Sanath Jayasuriya and Thilana Kandamby were unfortunate
to miss well deserved hundreds.
After the Jayasuriya, Kandamby show, Angelo Mathews took centre stage
to demolish the highly rated Indian batting line up Those feats are
history now and what matters is how the Sri Lankans perform today.
There is no doubt that the two skippers Kumar Sangakkara and Mahendra
Singh Dhoni would be asking the gods to look kindly on them and help
them win the all important toss. Winning of the toss would mean 50 per
cent of the final being won.
The two skippers will sure have their hearts in their mouths when the
coin is tossed.
On Saturday dashing left hander Sanath Jayasuriya came back to his
batting form which he is renowned for.He was all concentration and
determination as he began to unwind and play the strokes that has earned
him bags full of runs in all versions of the game in his illustrious
career.
Another repeat is expected from Jayasuriya. It is said that if
Jayasuriya fires, the other batsmen tend to strike form. The 307 runs
the team made proves this.
What was very noticeable was that the Indian pacemen Asish Nehra,
Rudra Singh and Ishant Sharma did not pitch short and allow Jayasuriya
to play his famous square cut,which in recent times has brought about
his downfall.
Maybe they were reserving the short pitched ball to lure Jayasuriya
today. Jayasuriya must guard against this and instead of going for his
shots square of the wicket, should endeavour to play in front, going
over the top when the opportunity presents itself.
When Jayasuriya was on song, it was irritating to hear Danny Morrison
and Mike Haysman, the two TEN SPORTS commentators constantly referring
to Jayasuriya as old man. Instead of being insulting, Morrison and
Haysman would do well to concentrate and describe Jayasuriya in much
more respectable terms and not belittle the great man, remembering that
he has been tagged as the greatest one-day cricketer by two respected
and brilliant writers in Scyld Berry and Don Cameron.
Morrison and Haysman can learn from the brilliant Tony Greig.
Jayasuriya has come in for a lot of stick in recent times for his
failures with the bat. With this solid and well crafted knock of 98, he
cocked a snook at his detractors.
When under fire for his failures, the only way Jayasuriya could hook
these barbs is by letting his bat do the talking, like he did on
Saturday before a packed audience who cheered this gutty cricketer all
the way through his innings.
When Nehra got a ball to keep low and catch Jayasuriya in front two
short of a dream hundred, and when umpire Kumar Dharmasena raised the
dreaded finger there was a deafening silence by the crowd who sadly
watched the great man walking back to the pavilion. Dharmasena a former
team mate of Jayasuriya who had to perform that unpleasant task would
have told Jayasuriya - "Sorry mate, you got to go".
After Jayasuriya set the stadium alight, young Thilana Kandamby
blossomed and showed what he is capable of by running to a quickfire
unbeaten 91, before running short of overs and missing out on three
figure score.
After the batting lessons from Jayasuriya and Kandamby, right arm
medium pacer Angelo Mathews ran rings around the Indian batsmen bowling
a devastating spell to have the dream figures of 6 for 20 which earned
him the man of the match award.
Mathews bowled his medium pacer on beautiful line and length and his
in dippers especially was a lesson in this art.
The greatness of a batsman or a bowler is consistency. It is hoped
that Mathews will maintain this consistency and deliver today too.
As for the Indians, they must have spent sleepless nights licking
their wounds and wondering as to what hit them. The Lankans must guard
against an Indian backlash. |