The Indian tigers who were roaring after Kandy were silenced like the
lambs in Colombo
EAS Prasanna
04-Sep-2001
The Indian tigers who were roaring after Kandy were silenced like the
lambs in Colombo. They lost the third and final Test match at the
Sinhalese Sports Club Grounds in Colombo by a whopping margin of an
innings and 77 runs. Another Test series lost away from home. Sri
Lanka should be given all credit for the thrashing they gave the
Indians. It will be prudent to remember that Sri Lanka had lost their
way and surrendered the Kandy Test match to the Indians.
Sourav Ganguly got it right at the toss and made the correct decision
to bat first. I thought Shiv Sunder Das and Sadagoppan Ramesh did well
on the opening day to put on 97 runs for the first wicket. As has been
the case with the Indian batting in recent times, they messed it up.
It was extraordinary bowling from Muttiah Muralitharan that sent back
the openers. After this, it was very disturbing to see umpire Orchard
give Ganguly out lbw. I hope Ganguly's poor run of luck comes to an
end very soon.
It also was most distressing to see no Indian batsman other than
Dravid show any signs of resistance against Muralitharan. Muralitharan
is a class act; he mesmerizes the batsmen with flight and turn. His
spell of 8/87 is indeed a great achievement and I am glad that offspin is back in the limelight. There is a lesson here for Harbhajan
Singh - give the ball a lot of air and get the ball to turn off the
wicket.
As I had suggested in my earlier column, the two dangerous batsmen in
the Sri Lankan batting line-up are Marvan Atapattu and Mahela
Jayawardene. Their technique and temperament is world class and they
went on to show why they are an integral part of the Lankan side. Both
the batsmen were willing to use their feet against Harbhajan Singh and
Sairaj Bahutule. Harbhajan was a big disappointment as he failed to
keep his focus and hence extract the vicious turn that would have
troubled the batsmen.
I thought Bahutule bowled impressively; he was quite unlucky too as
Dighe put down a couple of opportunities off his bowling. Had Dighe
caught the straightforward chance offered by Jayawardene, the story
would have been different. On a wicket like the one in Colombo, there
is no scope for missing easy chances. Dighe was the culprit in making
a mess of an easy stumping chance that would have got rid of Kumar
Sangakkara. I remember that in the Chennai Test match against the
Aussies, Dighe missed a stumping chance of Mark Waugh off Bahutule.
The irony is both Bahutule and Dighe have played a lot of cricket
together for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy.
It was so heartening to see Hashan Tillakaratne and Thilan Samaraweera
press home the advantage against the hapless Indian bowling and score
hundreds. Maybe there is a lesson or two the Indians could learn from
their good neighbour. I was completely miffed seeing the Indian body
language as the Sri Lankan batsmen piled up the runs. Here was a team,
which was completely confused.
I think Das and Ramesh are doing a good job as openers. They have been
giving India a good start regularly; a partnership of 107 runs in the
second innings went a long way to set a good foundation. The rest of
the Indian batting effort was a poor apology; they surrendered
timidly. It is way beyond my comprehension why India could not bat out
two full days of the Test match. Three run-outs in an innings while
you are trying to save a Test match is most preposterous.
The Test was lost and so the series. All the hope and promises after
the stupendous win in Kandy vaporised in Colombo. Dighe's wicketkeeping, the three run-outs, Harbhajan Singh's failure to get wickets
and the abject surrender of the Indian batting against Muralitharan's
off spin were the deciding factors. More than India losing it, Sri
Lanka won the Test match in great style. It was a most comprehensive
win and all credit goes to Sanath Jayasuriya for his astute use of his
resources. Sri Lankans were clearly the better side and they deserve
the emphatic victory.