Cricket Tournaments

Kumar Sangakkara

Momentum hasn’t made its presence felt at the ongoing tri-series in Sri Lanka. It has either been everything or nothing for all the three teams in each of the games. Keeping that in mind, there will be no favoured team as such when India take on Sri Lanka in yet another series final on Saturday. Whatever the result, both teams, as well as the spectators from both nations will heave a sigh of relief that the two teams won’t face each other very soon after this summit clash.

The Lankans may seem to have the slight advantage since they are playing at home, and also from the fact that their team wears a more balanced look compared to their familiar opponents. Unfortunately, though, recent history goes against them as the Indians have upstaged them in two tournaments in the last year or so. And thus, the home team will be keen to set the record straight this time round.

A glance at the two teams and the Lankans would definitely feel more confident this time round. They will be playing an injury-free side, with most of the players in form as well. After all, they upset India by a huge margin in their last game. A blessing in disguise for the Lankans is that Tillakaratne Dilshan hasn’t fired to the best of his potential as yet. The home team will be hoping he has reserved his best for the last. A lot can be expected from the experienced duo of Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene. If they fire, the lower order will become doubly dangerous.

Special mention needs to be made of the two all-rounders in the Lankan side. Angelo Mathews and Thisara Perera – one a batting all-rounder and the other a bowling – lend enviable balance to the line up. What’s more Perera will be on a high following his five-for against the same opponent in the last league game, and while Mathews is yet to make a genuine impression, with his versatile skill, one is more or less assured that he can contribute in some manner or the other. The script only gets more pleasing as even Chamara Silva impressed in the one chance he got.

The bowling should be the last of Lanka’s worries at the moment. With Nuwan Kulasekara, Lasith Malinga and Suraj Randiv preceding Mathews and Perera and all three among the wickets, skipper Sangakkara should be feeling highly assured of a good show. And so, if everything falls into place for them on the d-day, India could be in for a tough time.

Virender Sehwag

Shifting focus to India, there need to be thankful to Virender Sehwag, who has somehow managed to keep India afloat in the series. With two match-winning scores, one while chasing (very unlike Sehwag) and the other while setting a target, the Delhi dynamo has been India’s one man army with the bat so far. The positive for the Lankans is that Sehwag is due for a failure, if they want to look at it that way. But then, with the maverick Indian opener, the law of averages theory doesn’t work, so there is no guarantee of what Sehwag will dish out on the day. One thing is for sure though, he won’t die wondering.

What Sehwag desperately needs is some support from the other end. It would be unfair to blame Dinesh Karthik for his failures since is just a makeshift and is trying to do a job for his team. However, India cannot afford to lose quick wickets in the final as well. Also, it is important for them to abandon the part-time theory and look for proper opening batsmen, may be someone like a Murli Vijay in case Sachin, Sehwag and Gambhir are absent, at least when the ball is moving around.

Another worrying aspect about the Indians has been the performance of their young batsmen. While Virat Kohli can be excused considering he hasn’t had a permanent spot of late, the same cannot be said of Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja. Despite being given ample opportunities, and a somewhat unfairly long run considering there are other youngsters around, they haven’t lived up to the potential. Jadeja has been decent with the bat but hasn’t proved worthy of a number seven till date. Sharma, on the other hand, is just not learning from the mistakes, which is a most worrisome aspect as far as India is concerned.

Rather ironically, the bowling has fared better, but that has had more to do with the conditions. Still Praveen Kumar’s early strikes in most of the games has given the bowling attack a potent look. Further, Ashish Nehra and Ishant Sharma too have contributed, and Munaf Patel’s success against the Kiwis could mean that he could be risked in the final, which would mean a four-pronged pace attack again.
All said and done, one only hopes that the conditions don’t play an overtly important role in determining the result, and also that the series of one-sided games is brought to a halt.

Ms Dhoni

Okay, for a change we aren’t discussing about an India-Sri Lanka game in the Emerald nation. Still, the India-New Zealand clash on Wednesday will be a highly significant affair in the context of the ongoing tri-series. As aptly pointed out by Indian skipper MS Dhoni, the game will be a virtual semi-final, with the winner joining the home team in the finals. Interestingly, both teams have had similar fortunes thus far, with a win one day and a disappointing loss on the next occasion. This is what makes the tussle between the two sides intriguing and very well-matched. Whichever team can leave their worst form back in the pavilion will benefit the most from the clash.

Starting with India, they entered the tournament with massive bowling worries. However, scores of 88 and 104 have meant that their batting deficiencies have also been seriously exposed. The problem begins right at the top, with Dinesh Karthik being unable to fit into the shoes of Gautam Gambhir. As a result, Virender Sehwag’s task has become doubly difficult. And while he has succeeded in helping India clinch one win, it is crucial from India’s point of view for him to find some support.

The non-performing youngsters are proving to be another bane in India’s build up to the World Cup. While Rohit Sharma has been a little unlucky with some close lbw shouts, the reality is that he still hasn’t ironed out the flaws in his game. And when you consider that he has been around the international circuit for a good four years now, it is a danger signal. His dismissals in the last two games have been as good as carbon copies.

For a while Virat Kohli looked settled at the number three slot. However, with Sachin Tendulkar shuttling in and out of the ODI team at his own will, Kohli has had to move up and down the order. And if his recent string of scores is taken into consideration, it hasn’t helped his cause at all. He might get one more chance to prove his worth again in place of, maybe, either Karthik or Sharma. It remains to be seen how he reacts if such an opportunity comes his way on Wednesday. A note on Ravindra Jadeja is essential too. While his bowling has been decent for a while, except the T20 World Cup, his batting skills haven’t come to the fore. And so, India need to decide very quickly whether they want him in the scheme of things for the 2011 World Cup.

Bizarre as it may sound, India’s bowling looks stronger in comparison. That, however, epitomizes the team’s batting debacles more than anything else. Still, Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma and Ashish Nehra have done reasonably well in the series. And when the ball moves around, as it has been doing in Lanka, they aren’t the worst trio. Thankfully for the Indians, Pragyan Ojha has stepped up his game, as a result of which India haven’t missed Harbhajan Singh much. And anyways, the Punjab off-spinner wasn’t having a great time with the ball himself.

Shifting focus to the Kiwis, they have their own concerns. The inexperienced batting line-up was found out against Sri Lanka. Also, it hasn’t helped that their last game against the home team was washed out. Considering the leisurely schedule of the tournament, (the players wouldn’t be complaining) the wash out means the Kiwis haven’t batted out in the middle for well over a week. India would be hoping to take advantage of the rustiness, if any has crept in. Further, their batting looks brittle if ones takes away Scott Styris and Ross Taylor. Things seem worse when you add the fact that Jacom Oram is back on the ‘I am injured’ list, even though Martin Guptill’s expected comeback should cheer up the Kiwi camp.

Like India, their bowling too wears a stronger look in the presence of Daryl Tuffey and Kyle Mills, with the experienced Styris for support. India will need to be wary of the opening bowlers as the new ball has been doing plenty in the initial stages, and the batsmen have been guilty of not applying themselves. The pitch, once again, will play a crucial role. With the rain around, some movement has to be expected both at the start of the game as well as under lights.

Dhoni’s luck at the toss may have changed in the previous game, but he wouldn’t mind retaining the losing streak if the team continues to win. On a more serious note, winning or losing the toss notwithstanding, application should be the keyword for both sides.

Virendra Sehwag

The controversy over the ‘denied century’ notwithstanding, Virender Sehwag batted with extreme maturity to lead India to victory in the crucial tri-series game against Sri Lanka. True, India weren’t chasing a massive target by any means. Still, the conditions weren’t the easiest for the batsmen under the lights. Most of the top order struggled to cope with the moving deliveries. As such, a repeat of the disastrous batting effort against New Zealand seemed a possible danger. This is where Sehwag came to India’s rescue, and how.

Often in the past, the swashbuckling opener has hit India out of trouble. And while he was totally restraint here either — never expect him to be – there were sure signs of a batsman, who was willing to hold himself back, even be it ever so slightly for the team’s cause.

On this day, Sehwag was prepared to wait for the loose balls instead of trying to invent strokes, which has often been his bane in the shorter format of the game. It was a masterly knock that not only ensured that India stayed alive in the series, but also saw to it that they were very much on par with the other two teams, courtesy the bonus point gained. If only Sehwag can continue to adopt a similar approach in the coming one-day games, one is sure his success rate would only be that much greater.

If Sehwag was the undisputed hero with the bat, there were plenty of them with the ball for India. Praveen Kumar swung the game India’s way early on with a lethal exhibition of bowling under overcast conditions. His performance at the top was critical in guaranteeing that India did not feel the pinch of another lost toss by MS Dhoni.

More importantly for India, the other bowlers stuck to their guns as well and did not allow the Lankans to get away, unlike in the game against the Kiwis, where the opposition recovered brilliantly to post a challenging total and then dump India out of the match with a cunning bowling effort.

Ashish Nehra, whose fitness was a concern, used his experience under such situations to proper effect, backing up Kumar were well. And thankfully for India, Ishant Sharma too raised his game and struck some crucial blows. Following the early strikes, it was imperative for the spinners to carry on the good work. And both Pragyan Ojha as well as Ravindra Jadeja responded to the task on hand.

All in all, it was a well-rounded bowling effort for India, something which should please Dhoni no end. Having said that, it still remains to be seen whether they can be as effective under less helpful conditions. This is all the more imperative in case of the spinners, who have looked listless at times in the recent past.

A couple of other areas India will want to work on would be their batting order, which still doesn’t wear a settled look. Dinesh Karthik put in a match-winning effort in the Asia Cup final. But he hasn’t been up to the mark before and after that.

In the absence of Gautam Gambhir, India need him to make the transition to a consistent performer at the earliest. Also, while both Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma remain in the scheme of things for India, one of them needs to be identified as India’s next middle-order lynchpin pretty soon, in case Yuvraj Singh’s woes don’t end.

The Sehwag-enabled win has definitely given India something positive, from where they can build on. For that though, the rest need to chip in as well.