India in seemingly unstoppable vein

© CricInfo

The current Indian team seems to be showing a lot of character and a real hunger to win. Two victories in consecutive days is indeed something to cherish, and hats off to Sourav Ganguly and the boys for getting off to a wonderful start in the NatWest tri-series. The most important element of the triumphs was that on both occasions India lost the toss and were forced to chase. Coming under such adverse circumstances - for India are not willing chasers - the wins will be an ideal tonic for a long English summer.

But no fan of cricketing heroics and entertainment - myself included - can fail to look at Sri Lanka's continuing slide of form with more than a tinge of sadness. Sanath Jayasuriya and his men look a pale shadow of the team that notched up a nine-Test winning streak. Missing ace spin bowler Muttiah Muralitharan is understandable, but Sri Lanka has enough talent waiting in the wings to take on the very best.

After losing two Tests and two one-dayers in fairly emphatic fashion, the morale of the Sri Lankan team must be close to rock-bottom, and they are clearly lacking in self-belief. Having won the toss and elected to bat, they were expected to put together a solid batting performance against a confident Indian team. Unfortunately for them, no Indian supporter would complain about their opponent's careless approach or the modest total they reached.

In addition to worrying about his team's performance, Jayasuriya also has to grapple with his own woeful personal form. Yesterday he showed glimpses of the mighty attacking shots that he possesses in his armoury - particularly in one fierce slash over square third-man off Zaheer Khan for six - but Jayasuriya yet again was unable to translate it into a noteworthy innings.

In such a situation, when a captain has worries in two departments, failure in one inevitably feeds failure in the other. Charitha Buddhika, brought in specifically to bolster the bowling attack, was used for just three overs, and Jayasuriya's captaincy was found wanting on a few other aspects of the game as well.

His counterpart, however, looks to me very confident on this tour, and the series will go a long way in shaping Ganguly into a top-notch captain. He seemed yesterday to have a good idea about the strengths and weaknesses of the bowling at his disposal, and the field placements and bowling changes were very effective.

It was good to see Ashish Nehra coming back into the side, primarily because it would mean that Ajit Agarkar would not have to take the new ball. I have always believed that Agarkar is a far better bowler with the older ball, over which he has considerably more control. That was proved amply at the Oval; it was Agarkar who destroyed the Sri Lankan top-order with some purposeful fast bowling. The subtle variations in pace and swing had the Sri Lankan batsmen guessing, leading to their downfall.

© CricInfo

Sri Lanka's seamers Chaminda Vaas and Nuwan Zoysa too bowled extremely well, and at one stage, India, teetering at 135 for five, could easily have slid to defeat. But the Sri Lankans could not break the crucial partnership between youngsters Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif.

Both youngsters play their game with much evident enthusiasm, and their haring between the wickets for singles was particularly endearing. Yuvraj and Kaif, I am sure, will be part of the core of the Indian challenge at the World Cup in 2003.

If there were any disappointing factors at all from Sunday's match, it must be the performance of Anil Kumble. He seemed to be too keyed up, and that naturally restricted his bowling abilities. Kumble is an experienced campaigner, and I am sure he will sort things out quickly.

But it is sad to see someone like Harbhajan Singh sacrificed for the sake of the team's balance. Having said that, Rahul Dravid seems to be getting accustomed to his wicket-keeping tasks, and the catch he took to dismiss Jayasuriya was an outstanding one. This clearly helps add a certain depth to the Indian batting, and if they continue to play in similar vein, I do not see any team stopping them in this NatWest series.