India won the series against SL and in the process became the #1 team in ICC test rankings. While there is a lot of talking about the #1 spot, I do want not read too much into it. India plays only 2 test matches in the next year (and that too against BangladeshL) and therefore it is unlikely that India will remain #1 for a longer duration of time.
However, the fact that India won two matches by an innings against SL is indeed a expression of supremacy against the islanders. As far as I remember, beating Lanka whether in India or in Lanka has never come easy for India. On the other hand we have been at the receiving hands of Lankan batting (especially Jaya uncle, Attapattu, DeSilva and Ranatunga in the past) and Jayawardene in the recent times.
Indian batting looked rock solid throughout the series barring that first innings in the first match at Ahmedabad. And then we had the Wall, Yuvi and then Dhoni to bail us out. Kanpur and Mumbai were much different though. Sehwag did very well and could have well entered the record books. Anyways, I am sure Sehwag will crack another triple ton before he retires as he has quite some cricket left in him at the moment. Gambhir performed brilliantly too as he got two centuries in the series and so was Rahul Dravid’s performance. Laxman and Yuvi were a bit subdued but then in series where you have such huge totals like 700 being made, a 60 odd is likely to be dwarfed by a 293. Sachin got a century but I wish he would have got another one atleast given the fact that Ponting is chasing him and we are not playing much test cricket.
Among bowlers, Sreesanth was cool in his comeback matches and delivered the opening blows while Zaheer was good too. Bhajji did an OK job though Ojha sa’ab was much better. But again when the batsmen score so many runs, the bowlers always have a cushion and the opposition is always under pressure. So the bowling was good but certainly not great.
However, what pleases me most was the way we beat SL by huge margins in two test matches. As a kid, I have seen Jaya Uncle murdering our bowlers to all parts of the ground (especially that infamous test series in 1997 where he scored a triple and then 199 in the next match). The difference lies in the fact that India have been able to win the series while at that stage Lanka were happy with draws. I mean, how else could someone explain a score like 952/6?
Lankans came here with a very strong team but their spinners were in-effective while their pacers were pedestrian, to say the least. Among their batsmen, Sangakkara himself struggled throughout the series though he tried to redeem himself by hitting a century in the last innings. It was too late by then.
Lankans would definitely not be happy by their performances even though Sangakkara tried to put the blame on the lack of UDRS (Umpire Decision Review System). He said that the non implementation of UDRS was severely detrimental to Lanka and made a difference of 500 runs and a lot of wickets. I am sure Sangakkara’s Insurance Company would be having a terrible time dealing with him if he presents such inflated figues before them as well. On a serious note, UDRS continues to be in its beta version and therefore cannot be taken as a foolproof system. UDRS is being implemented in the other series currently being played and the feedback has been mixed. Infact, I heard that one of the umpires in the Aussie-WI series is so pissed off by the same that he has decided to retire! Poor old chap.
Ojha and Murali were the finds from the series; Murali was a revelation in fact even though he batted in one innings only. Sehwag’s form was tremendous and therefore he made things much easier for the middle order.
It would be interesting to see how the two teams fare in the T20s and the ODIs that follow. I would appreciate if India can continue the ruthless form which they showed in the beginning of the year against SL, but SL in ODIs is no pushover for sure. My money rests with India for some obvious reasons.
All the best to the #1 test team in the world (?????? ).
