NEWS
SCHEDULES
COLUMNS
PREVIOUS TOURS
OTHER SPORTS
STATISTICS
INTERVIEWS
SLIDE SHOW
ARCHIVES

Lanka thrash India in Dhaka

There was Badla. And Barood. And Quayyamat. And now, the hypemeisters of television have come up with Sarfarosh as catchword to describe the ongoing Asia Cup tournament, featuring four teams, three of whom have won the World Cup.

But hype will only get you so far, no further. For quite a while now, various sections of the media have been playing Cassandra, pointing out that if the various boards and the ICC continue to treat the burning issues of the game with such total unconcern, the fan will sooner or later turn his back on the game, the golden goose will be dead and buried, and then it will all be too late.

But the administrators in their unwisdom choose to ignore words of sense, preferring to hold the blithe belief that they could, in fact, fool all of the people all of the time.

That bubble would seem to have been effectively burst. Only consider -- India and Sri Lanka, both filled with top-notch strokemakers, turn out for a one day showdown in the Bangabandhu Stadium in Dhaka, Bangladesh (a venue, mind you, that hasn't yet become jaded by an overdose of cricket, and where previous tournaments presented the organisers with serious headaches, the crowds outside the stadium often rivalling those inside in terms of numbers). And what happens? The stadium is just about one-quarter full -- and that is a generous estimate.

This series is already sponsored, thanks to the fact that sponsorships are sold well in advance. But believe us, the next one won't be quite so well backed by the moneybags. Already, word we are hearing is that big-time sponsors are increasingly unwilling to put their money on a game that has, in recent times, lost every vestige of its credibility.

So now the administrators can start putting on their thinking caps. Their own actions have finally killed off the game as a money-spinner. The only way they can bring the crowds -- and the sponsors -- back is by cleaning up the game. And if this doesn't serve as a wake-up call and ensure action, then I am afraid nothing will.

And now for the actual match report -- the first part of which, just this once, is going to be rather truncated. Not because we mirrored the mood in the Dhaka stadium, and lost interest, but because our time was taken up in debugging some commentary and scoreboard software we are introducing for this season.

Statistically, India has won six of the last seven meetings between the two teams. On five of those occasions, India won batting first. Obviously, Sri Lanka of late hasn't had much luck on the chase against India, which made Jayasuriya's decision to bat first on winning the toss easy to understand. If further reason were needed, rain provides it -- the forecast at the outset was for occasional rains, and this meant that the team batting second always ran the risk of having Messers Duckworth and Lewis upwardly revise the target to unattainable levels.

India omitted Hemang Badani and Saba Karim. The latter through injury, which is understandable. Interestingly, though Mongia has been flown in, India preferred to retain Dravid behind the stumps, thus giving themselves the option of bringing in an extra bowler or batsman as needed. Badani's omission, though, was a touch unfair -- I for one thought the debutant played a more than decent innings coming in at number three yesterday, and deserved an extended run. Ajay Jadeja and Nikhil Chopra were brought in, one to strengthen the batting, the other to put some bite into an attack that looked woefully short on ability in the opening game against Bangladesh.

The Lankans, opening with Aravinda D'Silva and Sanath Jayasuriya, seemed to have the Indian attack collared in the early stages, thanks largely to the fact that Kumaran, and to an extent Agarkar, kept giving room outside off for two strokeplayers who never need a second invitation.

Ganguly did well to take Kumaran out after three overs and bring on Chopra to check the scoring rate. The resultant slump in scoring appeared to tell on Aravinda, who launched into a drive a lifetime too early when Kumaran, brought on for a second spell and bowling with more control this time round, held one back on line of off to produce the return catch.

That wicket caused a slump in the frenetic pace of run-getting, though Marvan Atapattu served Lanka's cause well in a solid second wicket pairing with his captain. India responded with some tidy bowling and a vastly improved fielding performance, and Tendulkar, as in the game against Bangladesh, made the difference yet again when he ended the Atapattu-Jayasuriya partnership just when it threatened to do major damage.

From that point on, Sri Lanka did its own cause little good by losing wickets at regular intervals. Jayasuriya, however, made the difference with a standout knock marked by enormous patience. If you examine his wagonwheel, two things strike you -- throughout his knock, he stayed focussed on working the ball around for singles, getting 44 of them in all. And secondly, the Indian bowlers provided him too much width outside off, which was the direction a majority of his big hits came in.

The Lankan skipper, after compiling a solid anchoring century, was looking set for major mayhem when his erstwhile opening partner, Kaluwitharana, ran him out in senseless fashion. Jayasuriya played a reverse sweep into the covers (now, how often does that shot take the ball in that direction?) and raced the single, then came back down for the second -- only to find his partner rooted at the other end, his eye on the fielder and his back turned to his onrushing skipper.

That cut short an innings in its prime, and effectively ensured that Lanka didn't race away to a match-winning total. In fact, only a late innings assault by Chaminda Vaas, who clubbed two huge sixes in one Agarkar over, ensured that Lanka made it to the respectability of 275 in the allotted 50 overs -- the kind of score that looks impressive on paper, but which on these flat batting tracks are very do-able.

India opened with Tendulkar and the in-form Ganguly. The latter, for once, seemed in some inexplicable hurry, throwing his bat injudiciously at deliveries that were better caressed than clubbed. And one such slash found him ending through to the keeper -- a needless dismissal at a time when the Indian openers appeared to have the innings under control.

Sunil Joshi was sent in to pinch hit -- a proceeding I am not sure I agree with. Joshi can club slow-medium and spin bowling as well as the next man, but against quality swing and seam bowling (and both Vaas and Zoysa are good practitioners of that art) he tends to be wasted. A couple of blows created anticipation, an injudicious hoik that climbed the skies before returning to settle in the keeper's gloves ended that hope, and Dravid came out to join Tendulkar.

The latter, whose driving seemed spot on right from the start of his innings, had a huge slice of luck when, in the 13th over, he drove too early at Weeraratne only to see the bowler getting his hands to a low return catch -- and spilling it. (Four overs later, it was Muralitharan's turn to spill a stiff return chance from Dravid).

India at 70/2 at the 15 over mark seemed on course for the target. Tendulkar, once the field restrictions were off, settled down to guide the ball around while Dravid, in the fashion typical of him, alternated periods of strokeplay with static sessions when he picked the fielders out with unerring accuracy.

At the end of 20 overs, India were 96/2 -- which meant 181 more to win, off 180 balls; in other words, the ask rate had been pushed to the six an over mark, and the pressure was on. That pressure, superbly applied by Muralitharan, who kept Dravid in complete check, produced the wicket when Dravid went a long way to leg and tried to hit the off spinner, only to get cramped for room and pat it back for Murali to hold a low return catch in the 26th over (123/2 in 25).

Next to go, Mohammad Azharuddin. Jayasuriya bowling, Azhar plays straight to short cover, with the fielder up close, and takes off for a run, finds himself stranded halfway down the track when the throw gets to the keeper. At the 30 over mark, India were 140/4 as opposed to 156/1 Sri Lanka, and the chasing side was beginning to feel the pinch.

Jadeja whacked a straight six off Aravinda, but an over later, shaped to run Weeraratne down to third man and managed to touch it through to the keeper. While at the other end, Sachin Tendulkar, still going at a run a ball (without a single batsman, till that point, supporting him in a partnership of any value) and now into his 80s, watched the procession in some bemusement.

With the run rate mounting with every ball, and Robin Singh seemingly unable to work the ball off the square, Sachin was forced to change gears earlier than the script called for. Weeraratne bounced one, Sachin swung into the pull, Jayawardene at deep midwicket took a very well judged one right on the line, and the delight amongst the Lankans indicated that as far as they were concerned, the match was won (at that point, India needed 103 off 82 balls, and no one around to get it).

Two deliveries later, Weeraratne hammered another nail into the Indian coffin, when he angled one wide of off to have Robin Singh playing an injudicious cut, the snick finding the keeper.

Agarkar added another duck to his impressive collection, fishing outside off to Zoysa. Jayasuriya, probably aware of Agarkar's reputation, had put Aravinda in the slips for just that eventuality, and the move paid off.

As the match tapered off to its inevitable conclusion, you were left thinking of these two teams, and how they have changed in character over the last one year. A year ago, almost to the day, Sri Lanka was a team in shambles. Internal politics and dissension off the field translated into indiscipline on it. The invincibles of 1996 looked sorry parodies of themselves. And India steamrollered over them in the World Cup, breaking records galore in the process.

The Lankan board then got smart, and brought back Dav Whatmore, giving him a free hand. Which the coach used, to ruthlessly axe Ranatunga and Aravinda for a while, and get the team back together again. Today, the team is getting back to the hard-fighting, give-no-quarter style of play that won them the World Cup.

Meanwhile, India has slumped. A coach struggling for credibility, fully one quarter of the team under suspicion of illicit involvement, riven by internal politics and suspicion, the Indian team today looks a shoddy parody of itself.

But as long as the board, and the selectors, are happy, who are we to complain?

Tailpiece: The other day, we had told you of the Stumpvision analysis package. Which ran into a few teething problems, which have been worked out now, and the package should, with all features, be live on our site from June 3 onwards, when India take on Pakistan.

As you will see when the link goes up, it really is classy software. The company that produced it, we believe, deserves a mention. Stumpvision was started in 1996 by Dinesh Kumble and Anant Narayanan, with Anil Kumble going along in an advisory capacity.

Anant Narayanan in fact created the Vision 2020 software, which is what we are going to be using for the analysis, and which, we are told, has got the boards in South Africa, New Zealand and Australia interested. V Krishnan, another of the founders, is the man who made the package web compatible, for the benefit of readers.

If you have suggestions for the Stumpvision team, do write in to us and we will make sure the mail reaches the right quarters.

Scoreboard

Sri Lanka:
S Jayasuriya run out (Dravid/Chopra) 105
A de Silva c & b Kumaran 23
M Atapattu c Dravid b Tendulkar 42
S Jayawardene lbw b Agarkar 7
R Arnold c Dravid b Tendulkar 5
R Kaluwitharana c Ganguly b Agarkar 33
T Dilshan c Ganguly b Chopra 1
C Vaas not out 34
K Weeraratne run out (Kumaran) 2
M Muralitharan not out 1
Extras (b 2, lb 11, w 9, nb 1) 23
Total (8 wickets, 50 overs, 222 mins) 276
Did not bat: Zoysa.
Fall of wickets: 1-58 (de Silva, 12.4 ov), 2-162 (Atapattu, 30.5 ov), 3-183 (Jayawardene, 35.5 ov), 4-191 (Arnold, 36.3 ov), 5-202 (Jayasuriya, 39.4 ov), 6-209 (Dilshan, 41.4 ov), 7-264 (Kaluwitharana, 48.2 ov), 8-273 (Weeraratne, 49.3 ov).
Bowling:
Agarkar 10 1 55 2 (1nb, 2w)
Kumaran 9 0 46 1
Chopra 10 0 49 1 (2w)
Kumble 8 0 36 0 (2w)
Singh 3 0 22 0
Joshi 2 0 11 0
Tendulkar 8 0 44 2

India:
S Ganguly c Kaluwitharana b Zoysa 13
S Tendulkar c Jayawardene b Weeraratne 93
S Joshi c Kaluwitharana b Vaas 11
R Dravid c & b Muralitharan 24
M Azharuddin run out (Muralitharan/Kaluwitharana) 3
A Jadeja c Kaluwitharana b Weeraratne 8
R Singh c Kaluwitharana b Weeraratne 6
A Agarkar c de Silva b Zoysa 0
A Kumble not out 18
N Chopra run out (Muralitharan/Kaluwitharana) 5
T Kumaran c Vaas b Jayasuriya 7
Extras (lb 3, w 11, nb 3) 17
Total (all out, 45 overs, 212 mins) 205
Fall of wickets: 1-38 (Ganguly, 7.1 ov), 2-56 (Joshi, 10.3 ov), 3-123 (Dravid, 25.3 ov), 4-139 (Azharuddin, 28.4 ov), 5-156 (Jadeja, 32.3 ov), 6-174 (Tendulkar, 36.1 ov), 7-174 (Singh, 36.4 ov), 8-174 (Agarkar, 37.2 ov), 9-194 (Chopra, 42.2 ov), 10-205 (Kumaran, 44.6 ov).

Bowling
Vaas 6 1 24 1 (3nb)
Zoysa 10 0 47 2 (2w)
Weeraratne 9 2 46 3 (1w)
Muralitharan 9 1 38 1 (2w)
Jayasuriya 9 0 39 1 (3w)
De Silva 2 1 8 0