Lanka win but no great shakes
Yet another series, yet another loss
Rajesh Kumar
03-Sep-2001
Yet another series, yet another loss. And we are soon off to South
Africa! Did I hear somebody mention 'roasting'?
Before we think about South Africa, let's dwell on the recent tour for
a moment. The most disturbing aspect of the defeat at Colombo is that
it was expected. That India managed to win at Kandy was the only big
surprise of the series. This despite it being sixteen months since Sri
Lanka had won at home. This also despite India not having been beaten
in a Test by the Lankans for sixteen long years.
Seven Lankan centuries were scored off the Indian bowling (attack is a
word I would rather not use in the circumstances). And our Dravids and
Gangulys could not even score one in return. That in itself would
explain the defeat rather eloquently.
The Indian willow-wielders simply refused to take the battle to the
opposition. You couldn't get more hare-brained than Ganguly and
Dravid, captain and vice-captain, on day four of the third Test. There
they were, the two senior pros, men who were expected to lead the way.
And what do they do after Shiv Sunder Das and Sadagoppan Ramesh
provide what was indeed a very gallant start, one that suddenly
conjured visions of an improbable draw - They play out 22 overs (132
balls) scoring just 29 runs.
Did the two wise heads dare dream of saving the Test with such dour
and defensive batsmanship?
At that stage, the only possible way out for India, and a very slim
one it truly was, was to save wickets and score runs at a merry pace.
Something VVS Laxman and Dravid himself did when India achieved the
greatest of come-from-behind wins at Kolkata. But that thought did not
even remotely strike our men in the middle.
What struck them though in the midst of this senseless stagnation were
two run-outs. Horrendous batting followed by nightmarish running and
calling meant that the epitaphs were ready to be written.
The Indian team might always talk about missing Sachin Tendulkar and
VVS Laxman but that does not excuse the ineptness of batsmen who were
all said to be of international class. The Indians floundered whilst
their Lankan counterparts made merry. That Hashan Tillakaratne, in his
second avatar as a batsman, and new boy Thilan Samaraweera both made
hundreds speaks for the positive approach that the islanders took to
the crease which saw them well-rewarded.
The Indians on the other hand were discomfited by the short ball and
by Murali. Dilhara Fernando, whose aggressive bowling was one of the
sights of this series, ensured that Ganguly and his men were cowed
down. This failure of the Indians to negotiate the short ball is
something that Shaun Pollock and his men will repeatedly take
advantage of in the upcoming tour of South Africa. It definitely is
unlikely that the Indian skipper and his men will do any better
because they land in Nelson Mandela land a week sooner than previously
scheduled.
In the handling of Murali too a lot of immaturity was shown. The
master offie summed it up at the end of day one of the third Test when
he said that the Indians played into his hands by trying to recklessly
attack him. As Jane Austen summed it up it so well, you do need 'Sense
and Sensibility'. Murali then returned his best figures against India,
also his second best against all-comers.
The Indian bowling meanwhile was mediocre. Zaheer Khan and Venkatesh
Prasad might have thrived in Kandy where the Lankan batsmen showed a
distinct lack of application. But at Colombo on an easy-paced pitch
they lacked the fire and imagination to be of any serious threat.
Harbhajan Singh meanwhile had problems with the Kookaburra ball and was not
able to coax any life out of the wicket. As for Sairaj Bahutule, well we have
seen bahut (hindi for enough) of the young man already.
India then return home with a raft of problems that need to be
addressed. It definitely does not bode well for Indian cricket if her
well-being were to completely be tied down to the well-being of the
right toe of a little man from Mumbai. There must be life without and
after Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar.