Lanka win but no great shakes

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.