Jayasuriya fails but not Ruhuna

Well this was the second match in the ongoing champions league T20 tournament for both Ruhuna and Sanath Jayasuriya. But, to one's amazement, Jayasuriya puts up a more dismal performance while Ruhuna ends its campaign a convincing note. In Ruhuna'a first game against Trinidad&Tobago, Jayasuriya scored 13 runs and scalped 2 wickets to emerge as Ruhuna's most successful bowler. This time all that Jayasuriya could manage was a mere 6 runs and went wicketless giving away 37 runs from 4 overs at a rate of 9.25 runs an over. However, the discussion is not regarding Sanath Jayasuriya or his performance here.

It would be worth to write something about Dinesh Chandimal who scored another half century after top scoring with 50 in his first game against Trinidad and Tobago. There, his efforts were useful only to see his team cross the 100 run mark. But this time, in the match against Leicestershire, not only did he top score with an unbeaten 62 but also scored the same at a decent pace compared to the pitch on which the game was taking place. By the way, the Leicestershire did not experiment with their like most of the teams do in T20 games.

Leicestershire used just 5 bowlers with four of them completing their quota of 4 overs. That according to me is one of the reasons why teams don't have a continuous winning streak in T20 games. Likewise, Harry Gurney's efforts with the ball should be applauded for his 3/33 from 4 overs which restricted Ruhuna from scoring any further which would otherwise been more than say 180. Another player who lonely played a decent innings for his team was Abdul Razzaq who had a better performance with the bat when he scored 68 but was not enough to achieve a victory with others not cooperating.

Though, like Leicestershire Ruhuna didn't experiment with their bowling the bowlers whom Udawatte chose to bowl had a decent run with two bowlers picking up 3 wickets. Looking at this, one can say that the ground was a tough one to bat on. Scoring runs was not easy and batsmen who have managed to do something have to get a pat on their back. Another player who deceived both his fans as well as his team was James Taylor who got out scoring just 11 runs. But, one result stands the same; both Ruhuna and Leicestershire get sacked from the rest of the series.

A series of ducks in Ruhuna

Well yesterday the first match of the Nokia Champions League T20 tournament kick started with Ruhuna not only playing Trinidad&Tobago but also having a taste of their first defeat. Needless to be said, Trinidad&Tobago won the match by 5 wickets at Hyderabad. The match was one more instance where the team winning the toss ended up as the losing side and Ruhuna was that unlucky team to have done that yet again. If not for some Dinesh Chandimal, no other player from Ruhuna could really stand up to the occasion. Chandimal scored 50 runs to be the lone half century scorer of the game.

It is confusing to see Jayasuriya still opening the innings when there are so many young legs available who can do the job rather than relying up on a 43 year old guy. Of course, Sanath Jayasuriya has been known to strike the ball hard but those days were over some 4 years back which can be confirmed with Sachin Tendulkar keeping him warming the benches in the IPL 2010. Moreover, Jayasuriya was not picked up by any franchisee for this year's IPL. It is no doubt that Jayasuriya had his ball doing the talking though his bat had to just shut up after scoring 13 runs.

Jayasuriya scalped the wicket of Darren Ganga and returned with an economy of 5.00 runs an over after bowling his quota of 4 overs which made him the most economical bowler of the lot. Anyways, coming to the match, one can see three of the batsmen from Ruhuna scoring or rather getting out after scoring a duck and one player was unbeaten on zero. Another interesting fact of the match would be that the Ruhuna team played their 20 overs losing all ten wickets. That might not be of that importance but the way Ruhuna tackled the opposition was too poor.

Ruhuna had T&T reeling at 6/2 at the end of the 3^rd over but once again left Dwayne Bravo and Darren Ganga to rule them. There have been many matches where a team loses quick wickets initially and end up victorious towards the end and this time T&T need not be considered to be the underdogs. However, the scorecard suggests that until the entry of Sherwin Ganga who scored a quickfire 39* runs from 15 balls that eventually sealed the match for both the teams-with Ruhuna being the losers while T&T emerging the winners. Had Chintaka Perera been given the ball instead of Janoda, something might have worked out for Ruhuna.