Another year. Another bowler

From D. Yogesh, India
A batsman in his 20th year of playing cricket has something to prove against a bowler who is only in his 10th month. This should have never been an intriguing contest but yet it is. And that's the whole beauty of sport.

Sportsman can never have answered enough questions to rest in peace. There is always a new player and a new question lurking in every match. Tendulkar has played long enough and brilliant enough that even the mere thought of him coming second-best to M&M for the second time sounds naive. It was not that he was clueless against M&M. He looked quite alright and yet was getting out barely before getting a move on. He has played worse and come off with century against his name. He has had bad series before but not one I can remember quite nightmarish like this. What started like a couple of innings, he didn't push on in Colombo, turned into a crisis in Galle and ended up as a shocker of a series.

He got out to Mendis only once and Murali twice. They never made him look like a novice. But when you are Tendulkar, unless you make the bowler look like a novice, it counts against you. The one-day series would have provided redemption chance but yet another injury deprived us of the fascinating encounter. With Sri Lanka not being commercially viable to BCCI, it seemed the revenge duel might never take place. But, How quirky fate can be? With the humbling still fresh in memory, Tendulkar gets to face M&M again.

Even if this series had been years later, one can bet Tendulkar wouldn't have forgotten his miserable last series. Champions don't take failures lightly. And the best players are doubly dangerous when they are looking to avenge for failures. Murali has already spoken of revenge. It is to the credit of Dhoni's men that there have been nothing more than whispers about Sachin in the pre-series coverage. More than his scores, I would be curious about his methods against M&M. Will he take the bull by its horns? Unlike in Tests, when he seems sometimes caught between attack and defense, ODIs demand him to attack more - which is his natural game. This will work greatly in his favour.

I guess he might treat M&M with the respect their varying experiences call for. He will probably try to work Murali around. In ODIs, Murali is probably the bowler he has played most cautiously after McGrath. And as for Mendis, expect nothing less than a first-hand demonstration of his batsmanship that made many pundits place him only below Bradman amidst batting greats.