India may have clinched the second test in the on-going Idea test cricket series against Sri Lanka. But this win certainly didn't come in the most convincing way, looking at the kind of Cricket, the Indians displayed, against a team, which didn't have any other armoury other than 2 spinners and of course a sedate and turning pitch to bank on.
The kind of scores, the Indians put up in both the Innings were certainly not the one to be proud of, given the kind of batting line up, the Indians had. As Sidhu says, the records, which the famed Indian line up has, did reveal more of their weakness against a quality spinner than what it should have hidden. Never in the recent past have all the 4 batting genius have displayed collective efforts in putting up a big score against any team in the recent past.
The one man who made all the difference between the teams were Virender Sehwag. His kind of cricket reminds of George Bernard Shaw's famous quote, "Men See things as they are and Say Why? I dream things that never were and say why not?" It is this attitude of Sehwag, as to why not attack the Sri Lankan bowling, which gave the kind of opening, the Indian team badly wanted. In that process, Virender Sehwag was only the second batsman next to Gavaskar to have carried on his bat scoring a double century and that too in adverse conditions.
While accolading Sehwag, due credit should be given to Gautam Gambhir, who ably supported Sehwag in his quest. However, it is too early to answer the ever haunting question "Has India at last found the right opening combination for the longer format?"
Despite the win, Team test cricket India (I think this is how, we need to address the team, given that there are 2 more teams for the 50-50 and T20 formats) has got to do some serious introspection on how to counter "The Menacing Mendis". Gary Kirsten has got to think out of the box, to counter the variety of spin bowling Mendis has displayed so far. The ball which got Gambhir out in the second innings is no way second to the Shane Warne ball, that castled Mike Gatting around his legs. If this guy can turn the ball away from a batsman, for more than 3 foot, he is the man, whom Sri Lanka has to nurture in the long run. Quite a few batsman would have thought that they are happy to have retired from International Cricket, before Mendis appeared on the internation scene.
Anyway congratulations to the Indian team on levelling the series. The last time, India toured Sri Lanka, the result of the series was exactly similar to the current situation. Hope India doesn't squander away this hard earned Win. Winning the series against Sri Lanka is a must to prove that the earlier wins against Australia, South Africa and England were not just fluke.
The kind of scores, the Indians put up in both the Innings were certainly not the one to be proud of, given the kind of batting line up, the Indians had. As Sidhu says, the records, which the famed Indian line up has, did reveal more of their weakness against a quality spinner than what it should have hidden. Never in the recent past have all the 4 batting genius have displayed collective efforts in putting up a big score against any team in the recent past.
The one man who made all the difference between the teams were Virender Sehwag. His kind of cricket reminds of George Bernard Shaw's famous quote, "Men See things as they are and Say Why? I dream things that never were and say why not?" It is this attitude of Sehwag, as to why not attack the Sri Lankan bowling, which gave the kind of opening, the Indian team badly wanted. In that process, Virender Sehwag was only the second batsman next to Gavaskar to have carried on his bat scoring a double century and that too in adverse conditions.
While accolading Sehwag, due credit should be given to Gautam Gambhir, who ably supported Sehwag in his quest. However, it is too early to answer the ever haunting question "Has India at last found the right opening combination for the longer format?"
Despite the win, Team test cricket India (I think this is how, we need to address the team, given that there are 2 more teams for the 50-50 and T20 formats) has got to do some serious introspection on how to counter "The Menacing Mendis". Gary Kirsten has got to think out of the box, to counter the variety of spin bowling Mendis has displayed so far. The ball which got Gambhir out in the second innings is no way second to the Shane Warne ball, that castled Mike Gatting around his legs. If this guy can turn the ball away from a batsman, for more than 3 foot, he is the man, whom Sri Lanka has to nurture in the long run. Quite a few batsman would have thought that they are happy to have retired from International Cricket, before Mendis appeared on the internation scene.
Anyway congratulations to the Indian team on levelling the series. The last time, India toured Sri Lanka, the result of the series was exactly similar to the current situation. Hope India doesn't squander away this hard earned Win. Winning the series against Sri Lanka is a must to prove that the earlier wins against Australia, South Africa and England were not just fluke.
1 comments:
Glad to visit ur new blog!!!
Cud feel reading a 'sports columnists' article in a magazine, your write up is realy good Vijay!
keep up ur good work!!
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