Cricket: A fair result.

The series ended 2-1 in favour of Sri Lanka. Indians were beaten not before putting Sri Lanka in spot of bother couple of times. India however were virtually always in the corner gasping for fresh air, inform of inspiration from The Middle Order. There were hardly any inspiring performances as a result India on the losing side.

The once great Indian Middle order.

Dravid, Tendulkar, Ganguly and Laxman are formidable in any version of the game. I know these guys did not have a great series neither did they have any form behind them to be in the run making mode. All these four had a very ordinary IPL and did not have any form i.e. hardly played or made runs. Yes Dravid and Ganguly did make some runs. But cricket is a game of momentum, ask Paul Collingwood, back to back centuries, the second century for a winning cause, which set up the game nicely for England.
For people who don’t follow cricket wish to understand what I am try to say I put forward an example, what happens to your week when there is an important meeting a Monday morning and you are late for office due to a hangover of laze. I bet it will all screw up. I personally make sure at least two alarm bells go off coz I hate being late anywhere anytime especially Monday mornings.
Then second is Sehwag and Gambhir are in prime form. There is no looking back for Sehwag, but Gambhir must convert starts into big score, something he did not do this tour, may prove costly to him. Sehwag again may do well in one days but I hope Gambhir gets a big one in one of the ODIs. As for the big four, they would have been in an indifferent position. They use to hardly see any Indian openers scoring runs, so for aloof we, a positive start meant big four could cash in big time. This proved too elusive this time around. Then talking of momentum them hardly a practice.
Well this may not be an excuse but Sri Lanka has equally pathetic performance when they came in India. Then I read at cricinfo that just one tour game not enough. There should be at least a couple of tour games for a visiting team. It was a tour game in Australia that things turned around for Perth and India recorded a thrilling win. I think lack of tour games probably will hurt any visiting team. It is necessary, just like warm up preceding exercises. They did not have one. I mean how would anytime fear if they were asked to fly down and face Harbhajan and Kumble on a Chennai pitch first thing in the morning. I don’t think it will help.
It’s been a long time that big four have flopped together; at least Dravid had some runs coming out of the last test. Laxman and Tendulkar injured is cause of concern. Tendulkar has been on roll call of hospitals for various injuries or niggles rather than on the score board. It cost his IPL side a crack at the trophy and his India team a chance at challenging Lanka.

Dhoni is exceptional.

Dhoni is a wonderful batsmen and very calm headed almost pan faced captain. But if you compare him to Kathick and Parthiv he is a very good keeper. He hardly misses anything. Parthiv and Karthick hardly got anything. They may be worrying about playing for the next time, but they should have done better, There were so many chances got a begging plus batsmen knew that their mistake wont cost him his wickets because keeper were not confident enough to grab opportunities. It was good of Dhoni to let this series go, iron out a few off his own niggles and then switch on for a big season ahead. India’s fielding is the key to wining a series.

The bowlers looking to get into rhythm.

Ishant Sharma inspired India to second test victory, what an effort. The conditions in which he did what he did were truly remarkable. It is always not scene in sub continent pitches that a fast bowler engineers a batting collapse. Zaheer Khan needs to try a bit harder in the fourth and fifth spell. He is a bulky ox who hits the bat hard. I think going back to drawing board and re thing his attacking bowling options won’t be a bad idea. Harbhajan pleasantly surprised me as he looked to get into great rhythm. Kumble w\for once flattered to deceive. I don’t what with Kumble and bowling out side the leg or a leg stump line. He can’t pick up wickets bowling that line and the pace at which he bowls. He depressed.

Mysterious Mendis.

Murali and Mendis are pair to be. Mendis flummoxed the Indian batsmen. They were a totally at sea against his variations. Sehwag seem to have got a nag of him but then often he played a rash shot and bought is own undoing. The other did not have much clue, the list included Laxman Darvid Tendulkar and Ganguly. Yuvraj and Raina and other have there task cut out for ODIs. Murali couldn’t do much damage earlier.

Sri Lanka worries.

I think Sri Lanka is tougher to beat in their own home ground than Pakistan and India. The pitched are tailor made, turning square on day one. But then batsmen must do their job which they do, but those who say it was a team effort that Sri Lanka won the series and India lost, they are just looking at the score line. Vaas hardly bowl anything the onus was on Murali and Mendis. The hard part is any bowl marginalizing them both. The batsmen have no second chances with close in fielder and keeper staking any chances coming there way.
Sanga and Jayawardene failed in just one inning and that cost Sri Lanka the match. Their batting too needs to come of its own if they are to do something away from sub continent. Samraweera looks good, one of the openers look good. There is definitely no dearth of talent there, Dilshan looked way off colour for long.