Indians ran themselves out

The Indian tigers who were roaring after Kandy were silenced like the lambs in Colombo. They lost the third and final Test match at the Sinhalese Sports Club Grounds in Colombo by a whopping margin of an innings and 77 runs. Another Test series lost away from home. Sri Lanka should be given all credit for the thrashing they gave the Indians. It will be prudent to remember that Sri Lanka had lost their way and surrendered the Kandy Test match to the Indians.

Sourav Ganguly got it right at the toss and made the correct decision to bat first. I thought Shiv Sunder Das and Sadagoppan Ramesh did well on the opening day to put on 97 runs for the first wicket. As has been the case with the Indian batting in recent times, they messed it up. It was extraordinary bowling from Muttiah Muralitharan that sent back the openers. After this, it was very disturbing to see umpire Orchard give Ganguly out lbw. I hope Ganguly's poor run of luck comes to an end very soon.

It also was most distressing to see no Indian batsman other than Dravid show any signs of resistance against Muralitharan. Muralitharan is a class act; he mesmerizes the batsmen with flight and turn. His spell of 8/87 is indeed a great achievement and I am glad that offspin is back in the limelight. There is a lesson here for Harbhajan Singh - give the ball a lot of air and get the ball to turn off the wicket.

As I had suggested in my earlier column, the two dangerous batsmen in the Sri Lankan batting line-up are Marvan Atapattu and Mahela Jayawardene. Their technique and temperament is world class and they went on to show why they are an integral part of the Lankan side. Both the batsmen were willing to use their feet against Harbhajan Singh and Sairaj Bahutule. Harbhajan was a big disappointment as he failed to keep his focus and hence extract the vicious turn that would have troubled the batsmen.

I thought Bahutule bowled impressively; he was quite unlucky too as Dighe put down a couple of opportunities off his bowling. Had Dighe caught the straightforward chance offered by Jayawardene, the story would have been different. On a wicket like the one in Colombo, there is no scope for missing easy chances. Dighe was the culprit in making a mess of an easy stumping chance that would have got rid of Kumar Sangakkara. I remember that in the Chennai Test match against the Aussies, Dighe missed a stumping chance of Mark Waugh off Bahutule. The irony is both Bahutule and Dighe have played a lot of cricket together for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy.

It was so heartening to see Hashan Tillakaratne and Thilan Samaraweera press home the advantage against the hapless Indian bowling and score hundreds. Maybe there is a lesson or two the Indians could learn from their good neighbour. I was completely miffed seeing the Indian body language as the Sri Lankan batsmen piled up the runs. Here was a team, which was completely confused.

I think Das and Ramesh are doing a good job as openers. They have been giving India a good start regularly; a partnership of 107 runs in the second innings went a long way to set a good foundation. The rest of the Indian batting effort was a poor apology; they surrendered timidly. It is way beyond my comprehension why India could not bat out two full days of the Test match. Three run-outs in an innings while you are trying to save a Test match is most preposterous.

The Test was lost and so the series. All the hope and promises after the stupendous win in Kandy vaporised in Colombo. Dighe's wicketkeeping, the three run-outs, Harbhajan Singh's failure to get wickets and the abject surrender of the Indian batting against Muralitharan's off spin were the deciding factors. More than India losing it, Sri Lanka won the Test match in great style. It was a most comprehensive win and all credit goes to Sanath Jayasuriya for his astute use of his resources. Sri Lankans were clearly the better side and they deserve the emphatic victory.