Beyond the boundary - Pointless because of points (14 March 1999)

14 March 1999

Beyond the boundary - Pointless because of points

Shakil Kasem

It may be a question of attitude. Perhaps this championship does not mean much to the Sri Lankans. They have arrived in Dhaka minus Ranatunga, Muralitharan and Jayasuriya, all reportedly unfit. Ergo a depleted side. What they had on display was a stand-in captain sans imagination, a bowling attack that was toothless, to put it politely, and a fielding effort that would have driven the most philosophical of bowlers to take up felony as a career option.

On a wicket where on the first day two spinners managed to snap up six wickets between them, the Sri Lankan captain kept his spinning options locked up a tightly as the Crown Jewels. Granted Russell Arnold, Upul Chandana, or Aravinda, the man himself, are not likely to set the Buriganga afire, but somewhat longer spells by any of them would have at least conveyed the impression that the Sri Lankans were at least trying to create something out of this game.

What happened in the end was the torturous ordeal of having to bowl for hours together to someone like Ijaz Ahmed, who was more than happy to take this opportunity to rehabilitate himself in the side. What was worse from the spectator's point of view was the sight of Ijaz hogging the crease for hours on end. Ijaz Ahmed running, Ijaz Ahmed in his stance, or even Ijaz Ahmed playing any kind of shot, is not the prettiest of sights. But like the Volkswagen, he gets you there. And so he did. He took Pakistan to an impregnable position, receiving help along the way in said cause from the Lankans to a large extent.

Pakistan dutifully acquired their third batting point, thus giving them a sum total of seven against the Sri Lankan's two. Effectively the Test match is over in two days really. It is hard to imagine that the Sri Lankan bowling attack is even remotely capable of bowling out the Pakistanis twice to force an outright result. But to give them credit, the Lankan bowlers stuck manfully to their task, although in all fairness, both Ijaz and Inzamam, both short of runs in recent days, did make heavy weather out of a lacklustre bowling attack. At the end of the day, whatever the merits of the point system, the fact that one side is making sure it has enough points in the kitty, has killed this match before it has even reached the halfway stage.

Sri Lanka really does not look like a team that seems to be overly interested in this competition. They arrived with a depleted side, their team selection has raised many an expert eyebrow, and their game plan tests the bounds of cricketing logic. Add the fact that the fielders never knew what to do with a catch, and you have a sure-fire recipe for a disaster Test match final.

Quite simply, sadly for Dhaka, the "neutral venue" this Test is a bit of a mismatch. Pakistan under Wasim Akram are patently on a revival curve; they have tasted blood in India, and really do not have time for this sort of opposition. The coach of the side is a man of many summers who knows every trick in the book, and the captain is ready, willing and able to implement each and all of them. In the absence of Arjuna Ranatunga, the shrewdest of contemporary captains, the battle of the minds is totally lopsided.

It would now need a really Herculean effort from Vaas and company to dislodge the Ijaz-Inzamam partnership which has already passed the benchmark of being ominous. With one batsman already with a ton under his belt and the other winning sight of another, and with Afridi, Youhana, Moin Khan and Wasim Akram himself to follow, Sri Lanka faces a Black Sunday with all its potent ramifications.

Take a brick as they say. Squeeze it, see all that water? That's as much interest now left in this final.

Source :: The Bangladesh Daily Star (https://www.dailystarnews.com)