Australia whitewashed

Very rarely does a team like Australia get whitewashed despite Australia losing their days of glory. There have been several teams like India, South Africa and England who have inflicted a defeat on Australia in all three formats of the game. But, one has to bring it to his notice that all those nations have not been able to whitewash Australia. Last year and in 2008, India was successful in defeating Australia 2-0 in the Border-Gavaskar trophy where Australia lost both the games which they played. If not for these, there have been many situations where Australia have lost one off T20 or an ODI to India.

But, England had a 3-1 win over Australia in Ashes 2010 which was not a whitewash. However, coming to yesterday's game between Australia and Sri Lanka at Pallekele, Sri Lanka had a run for their money against Australia when they had a run for their money. If not for Jayawardane's 86 runs at the top of the Sri Lankan innings, no other batsman from Sri Lanka ever stood up to the challenge. Jayawardane was there in the crease until the 7^th wicket from Sri Lanka fell. In between, Sangakkara gave Jayawardane some support when there was a 46 run partnership between the two.

Looking at the Aussie bowling, it may well be said that the pitch was tough for the batsmen and Mahela Jayawardane's 86 should definitely take the focus more than anybody else. Of course, anybody looking at the scorecard would be convinced seeing Ajantha Mendis' haul of 6/16 from his four overs that included an over maiden. But, with that sort of a pitch staying at the crease when 7 wickets fell from the other end deserves more than what Mendis took home. In my view, it should have been Mahela Jayawardane who should have walked away with the honor and not Ajanta Mendis.

In most of the case regarding T20 games, the man of the match is given to the wrong person and to a wrong department. Batsmen are given the award for the stylish hitting when the pitch favors them and like it happened yesterday, bowlers are applauded with the award when there was enough turn and bounce in the pitch. There were two bowlers from Australia as well who returned with 3 wicket hauls when Brett Lee and Hastings were the lucky guys. Another player who lonely handed the Sri Lankan bowling was Shane Watson who scored a quickfire 57 runs from 24 balls.

Is England a match for Sri Lanka?

One has to wonder who on earth crowned the English as the world T20 champions last year when Australians were the favorites to win the trophy. It is agreed that England were a tough opposition then. But, yesterday England never showed any signs that a world champion is expected to show. England were no match for Sri Lanka who beat them in every department eventually in the match by 9 wickets. There was no player from the English side whose contribution can be highlighted. Out of the eleven, only three players were able to cross the double digit score with Pietersen and Morgan scoring 47 and 41 respectively.

Adding to the misery, being the home team, England had absolutely no chances to lose the game with players like Morgan, Pietersen and Stuart Broad. As mentioned in my earlier posts, the match was of hardly any consequence with only one game to go. A winner or loser has nothing to take home. But, that should not be a reason for England to relax with 6 of their batsmen scoring single digit scores out of whom two of them got out scoring zero. This can just be considered as a continuation of the dominance of Sri Lanka over England since the quarter-finals of the world cup.

One can go through the scorecard of that quarter-finals match too see the way the Sri Lanka batsmen openers shattered the England bowling by winning the match by 10 wickets with an opening run partnership of 229 runs. Now, though the effect was not that devastating, a 9 wicket win for Sri Lanka over England should definitely make them think much hard about their future in the game. It is fascinating to see the age old Sanath Jayasuriya still wearing the Sri Lankan uniform and scoring in boundaries and scalping two wickets. I guess he is the oldest player to feature in T20 cricket.

Well rather than calling it a guess, it is a fact. Though Jayasuriya's batting had nothing in particular to say, his bowling fetched him 2 wickets from 3 overs giving away runs at a rate of 6.00 runs per over. However, there were the likes of Jayawardane and Sangakkara who could get the job done for Sri Lanka. One can sense the lack of responsibility from the bowlers of the England team who bowled 11 wide deliveries. The Sri Lankan batsmen finished the game in style by grabbing a victory with a boundary. But, England need to re-think about their fortunes i case they need to make their presence felt.

Surrendering to Dinesh Karthik!

Well the cricketing world has seen players like Sachin Tendulkar, Anil Kumble, Sehwag and Dhoni to name a few who have won many games for their teams single handed. But, if someone like Dinesh Karthik does the same, either the cricketing world has seen a new talent or has the same been dreaming. Yesterday was one such day when Dinesh Karthik did exactly what was expected off him but not anticipated. Dinesh Karthik was individually instrumental in chasing down a huge target of 178 against the Kochi Tuskers. For a change, this was a neutral venue hosted by neither of the teams.

A total of 178 has rarely been found to be chased and that too if any team has been able to chase it down successfully with as many as 7 balls to spare, the efforts of that particular team should not go unrewarded. One thing that can be realized from looking at the scorecard is that the pitch definitely favored the batsmen which in turn favored the T20 game of cricket. This is the third time a team has successfully chased down a total in excess of 170 runs. Previously, the Delhi Daredevils chased down 187 against Pune Warriors, days after Punjab won against Chennai after successfully chasing down 188.

I beg your pardon; there was a match where Kochi Tuskers Kerala successfully chased down a total of 183 against Mumbai Indians which takes the tally to 4. Coming to the game between Kochi Tuskers and Kings XI Punjab, there were four major contributions to the Kochi Tuskers with Mahela Jayawardane being the daddy of them all scoring 76 runs. Lesser contributions include Owais Shah's 23 and McCullum's 32. Can anyone of you spare the Kings XI Punjab bowlers for bowling as many as 19 wise deliveries that equally contributed to the Kochi's score? Added to that was using only 5 bowlers.

The Kings XI Punjab captain used only five bowlers which happen to be the minimum number of bowlers any team can use. But, everything got washed away as the Kings XI Punjab team eventually won the game by 6 wickets. One more player who made it count for his team was R P Singh who grabbed 4 out of the 6 Punjabi wickets that fell. This feat should no doubt go down as one of the great bowling performances in IPL. Now, once again, the man of the match debate should inevitably pop up when RP Singh stood the chance better than anybody else.

Tuskers strong on their day

Well one of the teams upon which all IPL fans can have their bet this time around would be the Kolkata Knight Riders who are found to have regrouped from their previous shattering which was evident in the last three editions especially the second one where Brendon McCullum was made to captain the side instead of Sourav Ganguly. However, yesterday the story was slightly different with the Kolkata Knight Riders having a tough time against Kochi Tuskers Kerala at Kochi (where else). Another delight of the day was that the home team won the match which has been otherwise in the other contests.

Home teams have been seen returning at the losing end with the teams like Delhi and Hyderabad topping the list followed by Mumbai. Coming to the game between Kochi and Kolkata, the match was a favorite one for 'K' fans with both teams having the letter 'K' in them. However, even if one goes by that theory, then the fans would have been delighted for the team with the maximum number of 'Ks' emerging victorious. The Kochi Tuskers kerala have three 'Ks' in them as against only two such 'Ks' by the Kolkata Knight Riders. And for peiople who don't go by that, here it is.

One has to just think why on earth does the batsman from whom a master innings is expected happens to disappoint? Brendon McCullum who has shown to entertain his fans happens to get out early scoring just one run no matter how many balls he has played. Is it because McCullum had last played for Kolkata in the past three editions of the tournament that he has a soft corner for them should be thought about not so seriously. No individual batsmen can be highlighted from the Kocjhi team with contributions pouring in from Parthiv Patel, Michael Klinger, Mahela Jayawardane and Brad Hodge.

The toughest decision to make was as to who should be adjudged the man of the match with Jayawardane being the top scorer of the innings and Morgan doing his stand alone innings of 66 that topped the match overall. However, with the preference going to the individual from the winning team, adjudging Jayawardane as the man of the match would not have been a bad choice. But, considering a quickfire innings, the award points to no one else but Brad Hodge for his 35 from 19 deliveries at a strike rate of 184. Main mistake lied in Kochi giving 4 overs to Lee who went in for 42 runs at 10 runs an over.

What if Sehwag doesn't score?

Well if the current edition of the Indian Premier League is considered, it is the Delhi Daredevils who are one of the teams that are at the receiving end of their opponent's ego. However, for a change yesterday it was the same Delhi Daredevils aided with the magnificent knock of Virender Sehwag who held the upper hand in their group match against Kochi Tuskers Kerala at Kochi. One thing that can be noted is that the Delhi Daredevils were not playing on their home soil and secondly, it was the same old Virender Sehwag who did the good work for Delhi.

Let us go through the scorecard of yesterday's game between the Delhi Daredevils and the Kochi Tuskers Kerala which suggests that out of the total score of 157 scored by Delhi, 80 was scored by Sehwag alone single handed. Sehwag scored 80 runs which constitutes more than 50% of the total of 157 that included 16 extras. If this year's edition of the Indian Premier League is given a closer look at with Delhi Daredevils taking the spotlight, the names which make it look big for the team include only Virender Sehwag and David Warner. Other smaller names include Irfan Pathan and Venugopal Rao.

However, keeping in mind yesterday's encounter the Delhi scorecard had no other individual score to boast about if not for Sehwag's 80 as mentioned. The next best score was 22 runs from the blades of Yogesh Nagar. The remaining scores would just be a waste of time and patience. Likewaise, the scorecard of the Kochi Tuskers' batting consisted of decent scores unlike the Delhi team's which was dominated by Sehwag alone. There was Brad Hodge, Ravindra Jadeja and Mahela Jayawardane who returned with double figure scores though not so attractive like Virender Sehwag's 80. But, something different was expected from Brendon McCullum.

Like always, both teams who have been the bottom takers of the points table are found to take less experiment with their bowling like it happened yesterday as well when all the both captains there didn't quite experiment with the ball. First, the Kochi Tuskers Kerala had four bowlers who bowled their complete quota and on the other hand, the Delhi Daredevils had four bowlers who bowled their complete quota of 4 overs each with the 5^th bowler bowling just one over short of his full quota. May be this is the secret of the teams to have reached the bottom of their points table.

A totally flawless final

Well I just cannot recall a finals between two teams captained by played who also keep wickets for their side. This time I saw it when Kumara Sangakkara for Sri Lanka and Mahendra Singh Dhoni did it for India in the finals. On one side, being an Indian I was rejoicing the Indian victory which came home after 28 years surpassing a silver jubilee in between and on the other hand, I had complete pity for Mahela Jayawardane to have ended on the losing side despite scoring a century. No one scored a century for India despite them being victorious.

This was a rare finals not only because it was India who won the trophy but for the fact that both teams fought it out hard to win the trophy which was eventually awarded to one team that played a slight better cricket. Sri Lanka did well to pileup 274 runs on the board which should have been a winning total for sure. But, needless to be said, Dhoni and team had different plans. I just cannot forget the presence of Sachin Tendulkar in the team for the sixth world cup. Someone like Rahul Dravid, Brian Lara, Inzamam Ul Haq never enjoyed this.

Despite being extraordinary players of their era, they never got to lift the world cup. One can look into the last three world cup finals which were all won by Australia and were one sided games. It would not have been a prized prediction for anyone who would have bet on Australia after Pakistan were bowled out for 132 in 1999. And then in 2003, a total of 359 would have never be chased even with ten Sachin Tendulkars in the side against a team with McGrath and co bowling. If McGrath stuck to his line and length, Lee did the damage.

Exactly four years later in the Caribbean, India was replaced by Sri Lanka and Ricky Ponting was replaced by Adam Gilchrist. Every world cup final set up a new record for Australia. In 1999, Pakistan were bowled out for the lowest total in a world cup final. Then in 2003, Indian bowlers were belted for the highest total, the largest margin of victory and the fastest hundred in a world cup final. Four years later, Adam Gilchrist blasted the fastest hundred in a world cup finals bettering Ponting's record by 2 balls and the highest individual score in a world cup final.

Sri Lanka could not cash on drop catches

Well despite there being so many drop catches by Pakistan against Sri Lanka, it is a point to wander about by the Sri Lankans who are one of the favorites to at least make it to the semi-finals of the tournament. Having dropped uncountable number of catches against the co-hosts of this world cup, ending up on the winning should be on one side enjoyed to the fullest extent and on the other side worry about their fielding. Pakistan have always been poor fielders especially in crunch games like the world cup knock-outs though this is not one such game for the Pakistanis.

On the other hand as well, for Sri Lanka, being unable to make use of the opponents' poor fielding definitely needs a re-thinking when they are set to face Australia in the days to come. One need not remind me writing earlier about Sri Lanka's chances to beat Australia with their spin potent and Australia's lack of will power. I have to re0thing upon that since the day Australia beat New Zealand a couple of days back in a one sided encounter at Ahmedabad. And, even Sri Lanka's chances look slim after their debacle against Pakistan and so would be Pakistan with their opposition-friendly fielding.

One only can think about the reduction in the power of the Australian team that is found touring this world cup but, hardly anybody is able to sense the caliber of the teams which are set to face Australia-be it Pakistan or Sri Lanka. Of course, New Zealand is a matter of the past. Or else, Canada, Kenya and Zimbabwe can only be a last minute hope for any team which can at least make it to the quarter-finals of the tournament. Coming to the game between Sri Lanka and Pakistan, this was Sri Lanka's fifth defeat to Pakistan in world cups.

Scorecard reflects the team work that the Pakistani team got right when four of their top and middle order batsmen able to contribute along with a little bit from Umar Akmal and Shahid Afridi. In the beginning, it looked as though the Pakistani total would go past 300+ and no credit to the Sri Lank bowlers when it was the Pakistani batsmen who made fools out of themselves. Afridi's caliber is seen in the area which he rarely concentrates and seems to fail in that area where he is expected to do a killing. Or else, a dashing batsman is seen scalping 4 wickets something which frontline bowlers couldn't manage.

Poor Sri Lanka

One has to regret the fact that rain spoiled Sri Lanka's chances yesterday at Providence when they would have simply wiped out Zimbabwe from the tournament had the D-L method not come to their rescue. No doubt that Sri Lanka did win that encounter against Zimbabwe but, the introduction of the D-L method made matters worse by denying the viewers a chance to watch out for the bowling of Muralitharan and co. Scorecard suggests that even the Sri Lankan batsmen didn't have an easy going when only Jayawardane 's score of 100 spoke. There were only two other batsmen who scored more than 10 runs.

The second best score in the Sri Lankan innings was Thisara Perera's 23 and the other batsman who could cross the double figure mark was the number 7 batsman Kapugedra who scored 13. There is no doubt over Sri Lanka winning the match whether rain interrupted the game or not. But, looking at the performance of the Sri Lankan batsmen, that should certainly worry them with big games to come in the next week. One cannot find the reason for Jayasuriya making it to the playing XI at number 6. It was just a waste of space having Jayasuriya in at number 6.

Speaking about the bowling or batting of Zimbabwe team would be another waste of time needless to be said. However, a quick glance suggests that the bowling of the Zimbabwean team was pretty decent with runs equally given by all bowlers with Chigumbura being the top run donor when he gave away runs at 10.50 runs an over. The rest of the bowlers maintained almost the same run rate. But the real enemy of the game was rain which almost threatened to abandon the game. Had the match sailed on smoothly, the margin of victory would have been more than 14 runs.

There is nothing much to write about the batting of Zimbabwe otherwise as well and this time the batting has been swallowed by rain forcing the match to be declared to Sri Lanka. However, one thing that was obvious from the match was that the man of the match could have been none other than Mahela Jayawardane who scored a hundred. That was the only highlight of the Sri Lankan innings with no other batsman from Sri Lanka making it count. One thing that needs to be reconsidered for Sri Lanka is their batting and the second one is the inclusion of Sanath Jayasuriya.

Unbelievable from New Zealand

Well it was unbelievable for New Zealand to beat Sri Lanka first of all for being the underdogs prior to going into the match and secondly for losing quick wickets with time and overs following suit and thirdly with spinners like Muralitharan and Jayasuriya haunting their team like devils. But, in the end New Zealand had a last gasp for victory when they eventually won the game by 2 wickets with one ball to spare. New Zealand have always been losing to Sri Lanka in all three formats of the game. Since 2007, New Zealand have lost to Sri Lanka in T20 world cups.

This time, it was not Jayasuriya who did the damage either with the bat or with the ball. For a change, one can see Jayasuriya taking to the crease in the 7^th position after the sixth wicket fell. May be that was the reason why Sri Lanka had to end their innings with such a small total on the board. With someone like Jayasuriya on the top, either there would be a wicket fallen or else there would be a steady rise in the scoreboard with Jayasuriya smashing every bowlers at will. Yesterday, Jayasuriya never got to face the ball with the 6^th wicket falling in the 120^th legal delivery.

Main batsmen like Sangakkara, Chandimal and Dilshan failed with the bat leaving Jayawardene with the tough task which he accomplished well. Jayawardene was at the crease with the top three wickets of top batsmen falling at a wrong time. Whatever, the batting of Sri Lankan team was a complete failure. One can see the devastating spell of Shane Bond who scalped two important wickets of Kapugedra and Mathews in back to back deliveries failing which the Sri Lankan score would have well passed 150. On the other hand, Shane Bond was the most successful bowler in terms of runs given.

Likewise, New Zealand's run chase didn't start on a high when they lost their first wicket of Brendon McCullum even before the scoreboard had something on it. Similar to Jayawardene, Jesse Ryder held his nerve in staying on the crease despite wickets falling from the other end. Ryder was the second one to go and there followed a series of wickets falling with hardly any individual scores making news. It was Nathan McCullum's quickfire 16 which sealed the game for the Kiwis. But, the man of the match should have been either Jayawardene or Jesse Ryder. McCullum's efforts can hardly be seen.

A rare & common loss for India

This was a rare loss for India against Sri Lanka and a common loss in the finals of a multi nation tournament. What a series this has been with India and Sri Lanka winning and losing alternatively everytime they meet up to play a game. And, as the rule went, India had to lose this game. Sri Lanka won the first encounter at Dhaka last week, following which India beat them in their second encounter only to lose in the third meeting with the Lankans. Unfortunately, this happened to be the finals of the tri nation tournament which India lost. Had there been three games each in the round robin stage, may be India would have won the finals of the tournament and with it the series as well.

This once again pointed towards India who always have a poor run in the finals of a tri nation tournament to be more precise. This has been the case since Sourav Ganguly took over as the Indian captain in 2000. But, one thing that needs to be given a close look at is the fact that the series contained Bangladesh as the third team, against which winning is not at all an issue and so is making it to the finals. But, frankly speaking, and if viewers' opinion is considered, it should have been India to have walked away with the honors than Sri Lanka.

India had an upperhand not only throughout the series but also against Sri Lanka if the past three years or so are considered. Sri Lanka have been no match for India as it is evident from the past where Sri Lanka managed to win just 7 matches (including the finals of this tri nation tournament) out of 17 games in the past two years since the bi lateral series between the 2 countries in 2008 which India won 3-2. But, this time when it mattered the most for both the teams, India had to compromise being the runners up in the tournament.

In their last meeting, India had thrashed the Sri Lankans by getting to the target with as many as 104 balls to spare. But, that was not the case when Sri Lanka won the game by taking it until the last 7 balls of the game. Until the last game between India and Bangladesh, India was one of the teams not to have lost all their ten wickets even once in the series along with Bangladesh. But now, in the finals India were all out for a score of 245 which now makes Bangladesh the only team not to have been all out throughout the tournament.

Bangladesh have not learnt from the past

This was the third time in the tri series that Bangladesh did what they were supposed to do with the bat but nowhere when it came to doing the same with the ball. In the first encounter against Sri Lanka, Bangladesh posted a total in excess of 250 and lost the game by 7 wickets showing that their bowling was nowhere close to the requirement. And in the second encounter with the Indians, there was no reason for the Bangladesh team to lose so badly despite putting up a massive score of 296 on the board. And now in the 3^rd ODI as well, Bangladesh have done exactly that.

Put up a comparatively decent total on the board and forget what to do next. Bangladesh did well to post a total of 249 on the board despite losing wickets at regular intervals with almost every batsmen from the Bangladesh team contributing upto his caliber. The single digit scorers were the ones who came in at number 8 onwards. But all these efforts from the Bangladeshi batsmen could hardly guarantee them even a close encounter against Sri Lanka. All that the Bangladeshi bowlers were able to do with the ball was to get the wicket of Mahela Jayawardane not before the batsman scored a century and ensured that Sri Lanka won the game.

The Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan bought in as many as 8 of his bowlers all of whose efforts were outplayed by just 2 Sri Lankan batsmen in Mahela Jayawardane and Upul Tharanga. There was not even a single bowler from the Bangladesh side who was found bowling his entire quota of 10 overs. Sri Lanka reached the target of 250 runs with as many as 8 overs to spare. On the other hand, Sri Lanka needed the efforts of just 5 of his bowlers (though there were 6 players from Sri Lanka who bowled) to restrict the Bangladeshi batsmen. The 6^th bowler in Samaraweera going in for 17 runs of the only over he bowled.

The only reason for the Bangladesh to feel better was the fact that the Bangladesh innings had 4 hits out of the boundary compared to none from the Sri Lankan side. However, given the caliber of Bangladesh team, strong teams like India and Sri Lanka should be found resting their key players and playing some young talent which has not been the case so far in the series. The Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni is found playing his full strength team with the likes of Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar, Sehwag and Yuvraj though it has been Ravindra Jadeja and Virat Kohli who proved to be better in their area.

Dinesh Karthik's Immaturity!!!

It was good to see India win the third one day international against Sri Lanka at Cuttack rather convincingly by 7 wickets. Not only did the Sri Lankan team made a mess of their performance in all departments of the game but also, the Indian players did well to dominate the show in every departments. However, some things need to be made clear with respect to players' thinking when it comes to onfield performances. This points directly to Dinesh Karthik despite having a hand in India's victory. Despite having been in and around in international cricket since 2004, some things are not found to be learnt by Indian or international players.

Dinesh Karthik hits a six in the final stages of the match which no doubt did see his team through the match. But, at the same time, the six grabbed the opportunity for Sachin Tendulkar to score yet another century in one day international. That was not at all the moment for Dinesh Karthik to go in for any sort of big hitting. The hit came exactly in the 41.5 over, just 4 balls prior to finishing the match in style. There were as many as 8 overs left for team India to finish off the game and one cannot understand as to why Dinesh Karthik had to go in for such a shot at that stage!

None of would have seen Dinesh Karthik even in T20 cricket blasting the bowlers all over the stadium. If the circumstances are taken a closer look at, it would not be wrong to say that the SriLankan bowler Randhiv desperately bowled the ball in such a way at Dinesh Karthik so that Sachin Tendulkar dows not get another hundred. For nothing can be ruled out in today's cricket. Anyways, Sachin Tendulkar would not have regretted over not having another hundred against his name. May be that Sachin himself would have got tired of scoring hundreds and missing one or two like this would not be a problem for him we can guess be sure.

However, recalling the past, it is remembered even today the way Javagal Srinath let go a leg before appeal of Wasim Akram to see Anil Kumble grabbing all ten wickets in the Delhi test. Another instance that comes to my mind is the way Pakistani batsmen saw to it that SaeedAnwar take most of the strike when he scored the world record 194 which even today is the joint highest in ODIs. Howevr, there are some likes of Dinesh Karthik who have played a spoilsport in their teammate's performances like, Mahela Jayawardane never handed the ball to AjanthaMendis in the finals of the Asia cup which would have otherwise seen Mendis taking a 7-wicket haul.

There can be no calling a press conference to address such issues and it is upto the player to take decisions at times which can see his teammate making his day.

Injustice Noted!!!

This is with respect to the fact that the man of the match being given solely to India's Virender Sehwag for scoring his ode day career best score of 146, when the entire match saw almost each and every batsmen from both the sides scoring runs at will. There was India's all time great Sachin Tendulkar who scored yet another half century when he scored 69 off 63 balls and the captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni who scored a 53 ball 72 from India's side and Upul Tharanga and Kumara Sangakkara who returned with scores of 67 and 90 respectively fro Sri Lanka.

In addition to the above mentioned scores, the blistering knock of 160 from the blades of Sri Lankan batsman Mahela Jayawardane indeed deserves a lot of applause whatsoever. With all these figures in front, it is nothing but injustice that only one batsman was awarded the man of the match when there was yet another contender for the award despite belonging to the losing side. Justice meant in giving away joint man of the match awards to both Mahela Jayawardane and Virender Sehwag. There have been many such instances in the past where a player from the losing side is awarded the man of the match.

Recently, if our memories are still aware, Sachin Tendulkar was awarded the man of the match for scoring a blistering 175 against Australia when India lost the match by just 3 runs when chasing a mammoth total of 350 set by Australia. No doubt that Sachin Tendulkar did deserve the award whatsoever that particular day. However, it is to be noted that Australia were without a single noted bowler in their side. Anyway that is secondary. This was just a similar match where India won by 3 runs when defending their mammoth total of 414 runs. And a point to be noted is that India were the home side in both the matches against Oz as well as against Sri Lanka.

I just cannot differentiate how come Jayawardane's name was never mentioned while declaring the man of the match when he equally deserved the award. I remember Inzamam-Ul-Haq being awarded the man of the match for scoring 122 against India in the first ODI while chasing 350 at Karachi. Moreover, if the greatest ODI in the history of the game is taken a close look at, it was South Africa who had won the game but the man of the match was shared by both Australia's Ricky Ponting and South Africa's Herschelle Gibbs for scoring 164 and 175 respectively. The difference between the runs scored by these batsmen was 11 runs as compared to the 14 run difference between that scored by Sehwag and Jayawardane.

Is The Second Test Heading For A Draw?

Well there was a lot of hues and cry in the first test match between India and Sri Lanka played at Ahmedabad that eventually ended in a draw. After team India posted a mammoth 426 runs on the board with some awesome batting display from the blades of Rahul Dravid and the captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, all was thought to be in for team India only to be deceived later when an even better show by the touring nation Sri Lanka aided with Mahela Jayawardane's individual contribution of 275 in addition to 154 from another Jayawardane and a decent 110 from the opener Tilekeratne Dilshan not only surpassed India's total of 426 but also recorded Sri Lanka's highest team total against India in India.

And eventually, there was just three innings which ought to have been four in a decent test match. And what more can be done when the pitches are designed in such a manner that can only entertain the crowd when their favourite batsman hits boundries and sixes? India were able to record more than 400 runs in both the innings. There was hardly any thrill in such a match where the result is right in front of our eyes and betting on one particular team would mean disastrous. Such should never be the fate of any crickt match atleast as fas as a test match is considered.

And if the first day of the second test is considered, things are no different. Team India lost just 2 wickets and put up a mammoth total of yet another 400+ with the day's play ending at 417/2 with two Indian batsmen-Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag completing centuries and Dravid batting on 85 along with Sachin Tendulkar. And there is Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh yet to come. One can imagine the fate of the second test as well with such a kind of batting display.

Either there should be more bowlers in the side or else, the pitch has to be prepared in favor of the bowlers so that there can not only be a result at the end of the fifth day or even before that, but also that the batsmen earn their runs rather than the same being gifted for no effort. A ray of hope lies in the fact that Sri Lanka's Tilekeratne Dilshan was out for a duck may raise the hopes of the match yielding a result. This if and only if the Indian bowlers work hard and on the other hand the Sri Lankan batsmen make a fool out of themselves. Lets wait and watch!!!