Sri Lanka’s opening encounter in the tri-series game against India turned out to be a rather disappointing one, chiefly due to their below par showing with the bat. And even though they fought back well in the field, aided by some gifted wickets by the Indians, they did not have enough runs on the board at end of the day. This is what enabled Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin to bat without the pressure of having to score at a fast clip.
India were definitely in trouble when a cramping Virat Kohli ran himself out, but Jadeja and Ashwin batted with a sense of responsibility, and it helped that reappointed Lankan skipper Mahela Jayawardene did not attack the Indians hard enough after the exit of Kohli, who once again steadied the ship for his side. Still, credit must be given to the Jadeja-Ashwin pair for ensuring that they did not let the game slip from under their grasp.
Lanka’s batting effort was clearly what let them down. Except for the partnership between former captains Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara, the Indian bowlers were always on top. Zaheer Khan’s comeback to the team certainly did a lot of good to the fortunes of his floundering team. Khan’s expertise against left handed batsmen came to the fore once again as he first sent back Upul Tharanga and later dismissed Sangakkara, just when his partnership with Dilshan was threatening to assume dangerous proportions.
Post the exit of Sangakkara, a lot depended on Dilshan if Lanka were to put up a challenging score on the board. However, like in recent times, he looked out of sorts again. As a result, he tried to play a restraint innings. And while he succeeded briefly, the duration of his stay wasn’t significant enough to make an impact on the game.
Following Dilshan’s scalp, India did well to pick up wickets at regular intervals. This they did thanks to a much-improved effort by Ashwin, who was massacred in the game against Australia at the MCG. The off-spinner was prepared to toss the ball in the air on Wednesday, and was rewarded suitably, with three major wickets. He batting partner towards the end of the game, Jadeja, too had a better match. He managed to keep the runs down and picked up the prized wicked of Dilshan as well. It was a much-better combined bowling effort by India, which helped them restrict Lanka to a far from challenging total.
The Lankans, on the other hand, have only themselves to blame. A number of their batsmen got off to starts, but only one of them – Dinesh Chandimal – went on to register a half-century, and even he fell at a time when his team needed him to kick on. A major cause of the failure, however, was the half-baked effort of the seniors. Apart from Dilshan, Sangakkara and Jayawardene also got themselves in, but failed to carry on. As a result, India were never under any kind of pressure to rein in the Lankans. It was only some smart hitting from captain in waiting Angelo Mathews that enabled Sri Lanka to reach some sort of respectability.
Even though Lanka’s total wasn’t good enough for them to secure a victory, their bowlers did their reputation no harm with a competent performance. Lasith Malinga gave the bowling side some early hope by sending back the ever adventurous Virender Sehwag while Mathews and Dhammika Prasad chipped in to snare the middle-order. In between all this though, Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar featured in a sedate partnership, which put India firmly on the path to victory. And even after they lost some wickets quickly in the middle, Ashwin and Jadeja ensured there were not many hiccups at the end.
Even though Kohli fell much before the finishing line, it was he who once again set up the chase for India. If only he can control his belligerent body language, he should be able to concentrate even better at the job on hand. Sri Lanka too had their moments, but were left to rue to the lack of runs as India cruised to an alleviating win at the WACA, Perth.
By: The Pinch Hitter
Ever since The Pinch Hitter was introduced to cricket at the age of nine, he fell in love with the gentleman’s game. While his desire to take up the sport professionally remained unfulfilled, he substituted the bat with the pen. And since 2003, he has been commenting on the sport for various magazines, websites, enjoying every moment of it. With ‘Over the top’ he hopes to continue enlightening and enlivening ‘cricket companions’ the write way.
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