The Indian team did very well to win the 3rd Test against SL to emerge as joint winners of this 3 match series. My last blog post was about India’s famous win against Pak at Asia cup and India went on to win the final but I did not bother myself to write about another Indian victory against their (or probably BCCI’s) favourite opponent. Now that I am writing about this test match does obviously imply that this is a special win.
To begin with, things were never easy for India from the start of the series. Zaheer Khan was injured and Bhajji never looked like a threat in the two matches that he played. Munaf and Sreesanth were ruled out even before they could be considered for selection (I am sure they would have done what the likes of Anderson and Broad are doing to PakistanJ). So a team already bereft of a decent bowling attack had to do with a supposedly second string attack (Believe me, such terms only exist in theory. Indian bowling attack is always more or less the same). Whatever be the reasons, India played the entire series with Ishant and Mithun as their leading fast bowlers. It is interesting to note though that none of them broke down and bowled pretty decently in the entire series. Ojha’s bowling in the first two matches was listless but he did come back stupendously in the third one to make a mark. Mishra was decent too and probably did justice to his selection.
India expectedly lost the first match and I still do not know how long it will take the Indian team to realise the importance of the first match in a series. Indians take pride in calling them slow starters and I do not think losing first match ever causes any concern to the team at all. The only thing that fascinated me from the first match was Murali’s 800th wicket. The guy has battled it all (biased Australian umpires, racist public) and it was great that he retired on a high after such a controversy marred career.
The second match was played on a “very sporting wicket” at SSC where Mr. Mahela Jayawardene broke some record. I just admire these Lankan batsmen who keep breaking records while in their own backyard but come nowhere close to repeating their heroics, the moment they step out of their country. India drew this match and it was definitely not a great exhibition of cricket all over.
The third match was by far the most interesting test match India had been involved in for some time (the one at Kolkata against SA was good too, but India won by an innings, so it was never an even contest).
Dhoni did not improve his record with toss one bit (Was it the same coin from Sholay where Dharam paaji always lost? J ) and it was not a great omen to begin with.
Lanka ended Day 1 at 293/4 and that was a pretty strong position. However unlike other occasions, where the bowlers could lose hope or get bogged down, the Indian bowlers just kept coming back every time there was a partnership. SL were all out for 425 and India had managed to keep them in check. Ojha bowled very well to bag 4 wickets while Ishant was cool too with 3.
India began their reply in a profound manner and you always expect that when you have a player of the calibre of Sehwag in your team. Vijay got out and Dravid did not last long too as India were reduced to 92/2 with close to 20 overs to be bowled on Day 2, leaving Indian in a rather troublesome position. However Sachin continued to bat fluently with Sehwag and as a result the pressure never got to either of them. India ended the day at a strong 180/2 with Sehwag nearing century and Sachin giving him great support too. The next thing you would expect from these two is to keep carrying the momentum the next day. But that was not to be. Sachin departed in the first over of Day 3 and Sehwag soon after he was done with his century. With Laxman and Raina together, things could not have gone more interesting. While Laxman is always batting lower down the order and has to build small and potentially useful partnerships with tailenders, Raina is just a novice to test cricket. However the two got about rebuilding the innings in a very mature and responsible manner and shared a 105 run partnership for the 5th wicket. Laxman and Raina fell in quick session later and the ugliest batsman in test cricket (Mr Dhoni J) did not last long but with very useful contributions from Mithun and Mishra, India manged to get a slender lead of 11 runs.
Now this 11 run lead thing is immaterial but it was important that India manage to cross the SL total because if you concede even a slender lead and you are going to bat in the 4th innings in SL, only God can help you. The story of the whole innings was about keep coming back and hitting hard at the opposition. When Dravid departed, Sachin and Sehwag consolidated. When this duo departed, Laxman and Raina did the same. And at the end, it was Mishra and Mithun. The run rate remained good throughout thanks to Sehwag, but no batsman who made a substantial contribution ever got bogged down by the Lankan bowlers and this approach had to have a major impact on the final outcome of the match.
When SL began their second innings essay, it was interesting to see how much had the pitch deteriorated by then and how much would it assist spin. Sehwag got the vital wickets of Dilshan (who flattered to deceive in the entire series) and Parivarthana (this guy is something, 2 centuries at Perth, I mean Lanka J) and it was definitely advantage India at the end of Day 4.
Indian spinners then spun a web around the Lankan batsmen in the first session of Day 4. A lot of dismissals could be attributed to ridiculous shot selection though. However, Samaraveera led a lankan fightback in company of Mendis and it must have pissed off a lot of Indian supporters (it pissed me off, for sure). It also exposed the mediocre bowling attack that India always have and their inability to get rid of tailenders at crucial junctures. When the lankan team did somehow get out for 267, the target of 257 looked pretty stiff.
When India was about to begin their chase, the first thought that crossed my mind was Sehwag and the law of averages. What if it catches up with Sehwag at the most important point in this series? And unfortunately, it did catch up. Dravid did not last long either (he had a horrible series, I just discovered that he has an awful average in SL) and Vijay looked more of someone who has to do the formalities of being an opener. I never saw any resolve to do well. So India finished Day 4 at 53/3 and not many people would have bet their money on India.
The final day of the test match probably made for fascinating viewing if you were an Indian supporter. The loss of Ishant did not mean much but Sachin and Laxman batted almost flawlessly. Sachin benefitted from a dropped chance but overall it was very much textbook cricket and as has been the case, they did not bog down. Bad deliveries were hit for boundaries with regularity. Well, if you have such wonderful batsmen at the crease, you expect even the good deliveries to be hit.
India went into lunch needing a little over 100 with 5 wickets and two set batsmen at crease and the pendulum had changed its direction by then. Sachin departed soon after play resumed in the second session while Laxman was fighting his back spasms but carried on with a runner. Raina started in a rather amateur manner but settled down to calm nerves in the dressing room. Both Laxman and Raina went about the business rather briskly and India won by 5 wickets in the end. Laxman finished with an unbeaten hundred and that was his first in 4th innings of a match. Raina did fabulously well throughout the entire series to literally snatch the No. 6 spot from Yuvraj and make it his own.
Jaya Uncle was very upset in the studio later and he said that the match was in Lankan grab all the time, just they let it go. His team surely missed the services of a slow bowler like him J. Mr Sangakkara later said that Lanka was still the better team by a distance and we all know how he exaggerates things (refer to my last blog on India-SL test series which India won comfortably). Mr Mahela (ha ha…what does that mean “Mr” and “Mahela” put together J) also said that India team does not look like #1. Alright Sir, we do have our share of problems especially in our bowling department but once in a while we do win at Perth, at Kingsmead, at Wellington. How many matches have you won outside SL, forget subcontinent. When was the last time you won in India?
So the team continues to hold its #1 spot and while people may argue that there are close competitors in SA, England and Australia, it would still rate England as a potent threat. They have done really well over the past 6 months and it would be a pleasure to see India play England. But to the best of my knowledge, it is not going to happen in the near future.
The Indian team does not look like finding solutions to their problems, just that they are somehow managing to keep afloat with the available resources. The bowling, as always, needs to improve and we need to find batsmen too. I never let go any opportunity to poke fun at Jaya Uncle but the fact is Laxman, Dravid and Sachin are not getting any young either. And India may get into the phase which Australia is going through presently. The road ahead does not look very smooth but that is never the case. The BCCI selection committee needs to look at these things and I am sure they won’t. They are still busy reading Modi’s 15000 page reply :). Ok, I will better talk to the CID team comprising ACP Pradhuman, Daya and Abhijeet to find good replacements J. Arz hai
5 rupaye ka ek samosa, 10 rupaye ke do…
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Abhijeet kuch to gadbad hai, Daya darwaza tod do….
Wah wah wah !!!
Good luck to the Men in blue for the upcoming tri-series.
