Well this was rather anticipated in the earlier game between India and Sri Lanka when Sri Lanka had a struggling but a satisfactory win against India in the first encounter at Dhaka. It took Sri Lanka nerves to go past the total of 280 that was required by Sri Lanka to win that game. But, despite losing that encounter, the body language of the Indian players were as though they were least bothered and were sure to give it back to the Sri Lankans with compound interest in the next game which they actually did. Indians were as though they had not lost anything and their best was still awaiting.
Sri Lanka were nowhere in the scene when Indian batsmen were repeatedly sending the ball rolling over the ropes which saw them go past the total of 213 runs in just 32.4 overs. Any batsmen who made it to the crease took to the Sri Lankan bowling with utmost confidence. It was no Virender Sehwag or Yuvraj Singh who have made news previously for their big hitting capabilities but rather it was Dinesh Karthik and Gautam Gambhir who took the Sri Lankan bowlers for a ride at Dhaka. For the 3rd time in the recent past, Virat Kohli was found belting the opposition with confidence.
Three of the four batsmen who made it to the crease returned with strike rates of 100+ and the same number of batsmen returned with scores averaging more than 50 that included Gambhir, Dinesh Karthik and Virat Kohli. There was only one bowler from the Sri Lankan side who was found bowling his full quota of 10 overs namely Suranga Lakmal. This was the 1st time that Lakmal's name was heard in international cricket (atleast as far as I am concerned) and statistics suggest that the man under discussion is just 6 ODIs old. One has to wonder as to what on earth made Sangakkara go in for Lakmal with the likes of Welegedra and co being there around.
Moreover, Lakmal was the costliest of all bowlers who returned with figures of 0/75 from his 10 overs. Added to this was the fact that the pitch was a batsman's paradise which saw all the Indian batsmen who made it to the crease face the Sri Lankan bowlers with confidence (as mentioned earlier) . However, on that pitch as well the Sri Lankan batsmen were found flattering as though it was another Kotla. The next costliest on the list happened to be Welegedra who returned with figures of 0/51 from 5.4 overs and still was shown confidence from Sangakkara. A number 8 batsman in Randhiv is seen scoring 56 which doesn't happen with the top order. Nothing fishy?
No comments:
Post a Comment