Thirimanne, Ashwin incident nothing to crow about:

Lankans on the way to best of three finals

Elmo RODRIGOPULLE reporting from Australia

The Sri Lankan cricketers are now playing at their best as their convincing victory over India at the Gabba under lights on Tuesday proved.

If they continue and give momentum to the ruthless form that they are in, there is no reason as to why they should not book their place in the Commonwealth Bank Tri series best of three finals.

Before going on to comment on the game, there was a bit of drama when Indian off spinner Ravichandra Ashwin before delivering the ball knocked the bails off and appealed as Lahiru Thrimanne was backing up.

The appeal was not withdrawn by India’s acting captain Virender Sehwag and umpires Paul Reiffel and Billy Bowden consulted for a while before summoning Sehwag.

Sehwag withdrew the appeal after Sachin Tendular intervened. There were conflicting accounts over whether the Indians had warned Thirimanne before Ashwin removed the bails.

The incident was termed a Mankad and the consensus was that it was against the spirit of the game.

When asked Sri Lanka skipper Mahela Jayawardena said: ‘I would not have got the bails off in the first place. I like to try to keep it nice and clean. I would just give him a warning and make sure he stays in his crease’, said Jayawardena who is earning praise his wonderful leadership.

The incident was tagged Mankad, after India’s Vinoo Mankad, who performed a similar act running out Australia’s Bill Brown in the Second Test in Sydney in 1947. Sehwag later insisted India was entitled to appeal. The incident was no big deal and not something to crow about.

That apart, the Lankan cricketers showed their ruthless efficiency to bring down the Indians to earth. That the Indians missed the steadying influence is no excuse to adduce for their defeat. Dhoni or no Dhoni, the Lankans could not care less. After Jayawardena won the toss, the Lankans used the advantage with an opening stand of 95 between the skipper and Tillakaratne Dilshan that led to the Lankans piling up the highest score in the series so far. Jayawardena who is leading by example showed the way with 45 while Dilshan played his natural attacking game to run to a half century. It was unfortunate the way Kumar Sangakkara was dismissed. He hooked a short ball only to see it lodge in the hands of Tendulkar at fine leg.

But the batsmen following compensated with Dinesh Chandimal 38, Lahiru Thirimanne 62 and vice captain Angelo Mathews firing to help the side run up a formidable 289.

It was nice to see Thirimanne getting into the run making frame. He is a very talented player with a bright future ahead of him. He must endeavor to make runs, and consistently at that and cement his place.

Chandimal made another good 38, but spoilt it all by dropping two simple catches. Nine times out of ten he would have pouched them. But it was inexplicable how he dropped them. But Kholi failed to take advantage of these missed chances.

Mathews batted with responsibility. That the attitude that he should have every time he takes strike. As captain in waiting, he should earn that top post by approaching every aspect of the game with responsibility.

When India took strike, the early loss of acting captain, Virender Sehwag in the second ball of Lasith Malinga’s caught beautifully by Nuwan Kulasekera running in from third manner wrote finis’ to the Indian innings that was always on the skids since then.

Sadly Sachin Tendulkar continues to fail. He seem unable to ride the tremendous pressure put on him by his adoring fans to notch up that elusive 100th 100 and is now in the run drought zone. It is unlikely that he will reach that record in this series.

Kohli and Sursh Raina tried their utmost. But the Lankan bowlers, undaunted by the three dropped catches kept pecking at the Indian batsmen, giving them no respite until victory was achieved when substitute fielder Sachitra Senanayake took the catch that signaled victory off Thissara Perera.

Thissara Perera bowled with a lot of fire and was rewarded with four wickets. Nuwan Kulasekera who took a match winning catch off Sehwag and then had the wickets of Tendulkar, Gambhir and Jadeja was voted the Player of the match.

Read more about the Thirimanne, Ashwin incident in ‘SPORTSCOPE’in the Sunday Observer.