India's middle-order blues

It was billed as the battle between the best middle order in Test cricket and the most exciting spin combination going around, but it turned out surprisingly one-sided. Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis so mesmerised Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman that it resulted in one of the worst batting displays by the Indian middle order in the last 40 years.

Over the last decade, this Indian line-up has given crowds the world over plenty to cheer about, but this time they were well and truly outclassed - Mendis averaged 22.80 against the four, with ten wickets, while Murali conceded only 26.25 for each of his eight wickets against them.

Too often the grouse against India's batting has been the inconsistency of their openers, which puts too much pressure on the middle order and prevents them from expressing themselves fully. This time, though, India capitulated despite outstanding starts from Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir: in four out of six innings the opening partnership topped 50, with a highest of 167; the rest, however, still managed to flounder.

The table below lists India's worst middle-order performances (runs scored by Nos. 3-6) in a series since 1970, and this one ranks pretty high on the list. Three of the top five instances have been since 2000, but on two of those occasions the opening stands were non-existent: in New Zealand in 2002-03 the conditions were so heavily loaded in favour of swing and seam that India's opening partnerships read 2, 23, 1, and 2. Things weren't much better in the home series against Australia in 2004-05, when the openers managed a highest partnership of only 31, exposing the middle order to McGrath and Co. almost every time.

The performance of the Indian batsmen in this series was quite similar to what happened to them against Pakistan at home in 1983-84. On that occasion Sunil Gavaskar and Aunshuman Gaekwad, the openers, averaged 81 for the first wicket - though that was largely thanks to an undefeated 176-run partnership in a match that was heading for a certain draw - but the middle order, comprising Mohinder Amarnath, Dilip Vengsarkar, Yashpal Sharma and Sandeep Patil, couldn't manage even a half-century among them through the series.

These aren't good times for the famed four in the Indian middle order, but they have also put together some of the most memorable batting performances in Indian cricket, as the table below shows. Of the top ten instances listed below, six have been since 2000, and three of them outside the subcontinent. The openers helped them out sometimes with significant partnerships, but even when they didn't, the middle order still managed to turn on the tap - in England in 2002, against Pakistan in 2007-08, and in the West Indies in 2001-02, the opening stands hardly produced significant numbers, with the average stand less than 20 on each occasion. However, in England and in the West Indies, India had an exceptional No. 3 who soaked up the early pressure and made life much easier for the batsmen who followed. Dravid's influence on the Indian batting has been immense over the last eight years, but his recent failures have hurt India badly. His only significant contribution against Sri Lanka came in the last innings of the series, and it only delayed the inevitable.

Kumble's lean trot
While the Sri Lankan spinners spun rings around the Indian batsmen, India's captain and leading spinner struggled throughout, bowling plenty for little reward. Anil Kumble toiled almost 135 overs for his eight wickets, which came at a cost of 400 runs, giving him an exorbitant average of exactly 50 runs per wicket. In his previous series, against South Africa at home, he was even more ineffective, conceding 60.25 runs for each of his four wickets, making it the first time in his entire career that he has averaged 50 or more in two successive series. In his entire career, Kumble's series average has exceeded 50 on eight occasions (excluding one-off Tests), of which three have been outside the subcontinent. Sri Lanka continues to be his worst venue - his average there is 15 more than his career average. (Click here for Kumble's series-wise averages, and here for his career summary.)