SSC Test - Sri Lanka gain early advantage

Another 3-0 sweep of the Session Dashboard for the Sri Lankans on the first day of the second test match at SSC, Colombo today.

The team on both sides saw a lot of changes: Welegedara was out - Sehwag must have been happy (considering that Sehwag got out to him in both innings). Malinga & Muralitharan were known absentees. Gambhir was ruled out. Very surprisingly, Herath was kept out. All the four frontline bowlers who got 20 wkts in the first test for SriLanka are absent while India retained the same 4 bowlers.

The Lankan batsmen, especially Dilshan, looked like they were on a TVS bike and zoomed away at high speed. The Indians have been facing problems with their bowling Exide engine throughout the series and today was no different. After lunch, everyone thought that the Dabur Chyawanprash they had, might have energized the Indians but BPCL Speed was missing in the bowling as well as the Cello Pin Point accuracy.


Another interval came and went by - the Boost break making no difference to the scorecard. The Lankans seemed to be on a Maha Choco run-making spree, thanks to the placid pitch. Centuries were scored once again by the same batsmen as the first test match, their team proclaiming Pepsi Dil Maange More. Sonata Time was running out and the Indians did not have the Milk Shakti to stop the batsmen.

The Indians, at the end of the day, would do well to take a Royal Stag drink and rest for the day. They will also find out that the Dainik Bhaskar papers will not be kind to them on their performance. Videocon televisions will show the lack of proactive moves from the Indian management. 


Tomorrow, the new ball will still have Kiwi polish and the Indians can still make good use of it by remembering (via Memory Vita) how they did come back on the 3rd day of Galle test. If not, all their Big Bazaar clothes will need extra wash on the morrow. Will the Reebok shoes of the Indians show an extra spring in their step tomorrow?

Stats show that SriLanka haven't lost at home after winning the toss in last 10 years - evidence today showed that they will not lose this record so easily. The Indian batsmen will do well to take a leaf out of the Lankans and Concreto cement their feet on the crease when they get their chance. MS Dhoni will do well to make an Aircel or Maxx Mobilink call to Azharuddin and find how he can win a series in SriLanka. All the Orient PSPO fans of the Indian team are waiting.

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Galle Test - Sri Lanka take opening day honors

India has seldom won the opening day honors on an overseas test match - today was no different. After a long time, the opening attack had no left-arm bowler with the new ball.

Did that make a difference? Definitely. India missed the services of Zaheer Khan, not just as a bowler but also as a mentor to the young Ishant Sharma. Ishant bowled well very rarely in the midst of a flurry of boundary balls. Mithun was much better in his spell in the day, getting the wicket of Dilshan early. Few half-chances were missed - resulting in the large total at the end of the day. Pragyan Ojha was able to extract quite a bit of turn on the first-day track - indications of how Murali will play his 'tricks' later in the test - 800 wickets does not seem far away now. Harbhajan seems to have hurt his hamstring, which will impact the bowling to an extent. Sehwag bowled well in his limited capacity but that will not be enough.

Once the toss was won, it was a matter of putting a large total in the first innings of the match. Sri Lanka have done that so far and all evidence points to a dominant performance with the bat. How Indian batsmen (whenever they get a chance) will reply, will determine the result of the match. Of course, if weather permits, that is.

MS Dhoni must go back in time and bring out his tricks that he tried against the Aussies (bowling to a packed offside field of 8-1) and inducing mistakes from the batsmen. So far, the first day sees the session dashboard 3-0 in favor of Sri Lanka - all sessions won by the home team.

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Tale of three batsmen

The current series between India and Sri Lanka is interesting because of the form of three batsmen mostly - they are proving the difference between the two teams.

• Tilekaratne Dilshan - 2500 runs in all forms of cricket in the last 1 year - mostly because of his elevation to the opening slot.
• MS Dhoni - Since becoming a captain, his averages have increased drastically both in tests and ODIs
• Gautam Gambhir - Last year, his form was similar to Dilshan in all forms of cricket but this year there is a dip in his form in the ODIs. Overall, he is still doing great. His form in tests and T20s are helping his overall performance

With MSD losing out on the next two matches due to his ban, the Sri Lankan team is obviously the favorites to win now.

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• Gautam Gambhir helps India reduce deficit after Sri Lanka reach massive 7607 (telegraph.co.uk)
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Test Openers are no longer the same today

Image via Wikipedia

In the last test series between India and Sri Lanka, all of us were witness to the carnage that Sehwag and Dilshan unleashed on the respective bowlers. The bowlers had no clue to the way the two batsmen played in the series.

Today, Chris Gayle repeated the dose for the second time on the hapless Aussie bowlers. His innings has kept his often-beaten team still in the hunt!!!

The three of them are changing the way opening batsmen are facing the new-ball bowlers. It could be due to various reasons:

• The impact of ODI (and more so, T20) is making the batsmen play more strokes, thus increasing their strike-rates. 
• The test teams are planning to take early advantage of the game to increase the chances of winning the match.
  
• The quality of openings bowlers have reduced drastically after the retirements of greats like Mcgrath, Donald and Co.
  

What is your opinion on this?

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Honours even - Mumbai first day

Picture Courtesy: Cricinfo Site

For once, Sangakkara called it right and got a chance to bat first on a track that many suggested was true. The 3-spinner strategy was changed to a 5-bowler one. Kulasekara was the bowler called back in place of Mendis. India had the forced change of Vijay in place of Gambhir.

The first session was completely Sri Lanka's. The opening pair started off in the fashion that would have done Sehwag and Gambhir proud. The initial swing that the bowlers got, were negated with ease. Runs started to flow so quickly that Sreesanth was taken off the attack and Harbhajan brought in. With his introduction, the scoring rate reduced from over five.

Dilshan started off where he left in the first test - playing his natural game while waiting for the bad balls. His good year continued and he was determined to stay for a long time at the wicket to give the advantage of the toss won. The batsmen around him started falling off, after a good start. Sangakkara has shown that his captaincy is not good for his batting - he fell early once again. So, did Mahela Jayawardene. It was a combination of good tight bowling at both ends that did the trick.

With all respect to Matthews, the sight of him coming to the crease would have given a lot of hope to the Indian bowlers. But Matthews did not let his reputation drag his performance down. He gave good support to Dilshan first and set about repairing the innings with the help of Prasanna Jayawardene. Runs started to flow when edges went to third-man area, making the bowlers despair. Kulasekara also joined the fun at the end of the day. The new ball did not seem to make much of an impact initially but the Indians managed to take wickets.

Harbhajan and Sreesanth bowled probing spells in the first 2 sessions that got them wickets as well as reduced the run-flow. Runs were conceded in the third session when the bowlers tired a bit. Bhajji would have been thrilled with his success after a long time. Ojha played a decent supporting cast to ensure the pressure was on Sri Lanka. The pitch was helpful only if you adhered to the basic rules of line and length. Zaheer Khan was guilty of not doing it and went for runs. The Indians were slightly better than the Lankan bowlers on the first day of the second test - probably the captaincy of MS Dhoni was better. A Sehwag on this pitch would have been an option worth trying.

The Indians did well to peg back the Lankans after the initial flyer of a start. But, the Lankans have more than 360 on the board. If the Indians can take the remaining wickets quickly on the morrow, the batsmen can then give a solid reply. The match will be interestingly poised in the next day or two.

Sri Lanka solid in reply - 2nd Day at Motera 2009

Rahul Dravid mentioned during the post-match conference on the first day that India had to score minimum 100 more runs to be in a dominant position. Alas, he could not add even a single run to his overnight score. The team could hardly add 40 runs more. This was a par score, not a great one.

The bowling had to take charge for India and ensure that the SriLankans do not run away with the match. The bowlers contained the batsmen to around 4 runs per over and must have felt happy - for this would have been a good performance on a flat track in ODIs. Not in test matches though. With just one wicket to show till lunch time, the zing in the team seemed to have gone off. The bowlers, in fact, receovered and did well after tea to take the two wickets and reduce the run-rate from 4.5 to 4.0.

Dilshan played an innings very similar to what MS Dhoni played on the first day. He hit the poor balls for boundaries and rotated the strike to ensure that the left-right combination was in play. This did not allow the bowling to settle down. His 5th century this year has shown that he has come of age, as a batsman. After the fall of 2 quick wickets, Samaraweera and Jayawardene ensured that there wouldnt be any further collapse - they took their time to gauge the pitch and score runs. This partnership is very crucial as there is not much of specialist batting left after these players.

Overall, the Indian bowlers are not in good form. Zaheer played matches for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy but not with great success. He showed glimpses of his form when he managed to get the 2 wickets of Dilshan and Sangakkara but it was a bit late for the Indian team. Ishant Sharma was average in the ODI series (in fact he did not play the latter half at all). Harbhajan showed signs of returning to form but not of test-class - he needs to be rested or rotated depending on the way you want to call it. Pragyan Ojha is a much better bowler any day. Amit Mishra has had no match practice for the last few weeks - he has been sitting on the boundary line for so long that he might have forgotten how to bowl long spells and take wickets. This is the bowling 'attack' that MSD has in his arsenal to take advantage of the 400+ score. The fielding also hasnt been of any help either - regular misfields resulted in boundaries, increasing the pressure on the bowlers.

The Sri Lankan team would look at a lead of 100 to 150 on the 3rd day and put pressure on the Indians. Early strikes in the morning will help the Indians get back into the match - the new ball will be available after 10 overs. Time is not a matter of concern at all. India's advantage has been definitely negated in 1 day. Unless the Indians can come out in the 2nd innings and bat like their statistics show.

Overall, the session wins stand at 3-3, thus justifying the status of the match which is at a balance.