He will only be in his mid 20’s by the time his five-year ban term comes to an end (unless of course the ban is revoked). However, time waits for no one and by the time he is allowed to come back to the international arena, Pakistan cricket may have moved well ahead. Also, he wouldn’t have played any competitive cricket all these years, and one won’t be sure whether his mental scars would have healed by then. Amid the tainted trio, Amir is likely to be the worst sufferer. This is because he is the youngest of the lot and will lose out on his prime years. Butt and Asif would anyway be close to their retirement years by the time their banned tenure comes to an end. Also, the latter was never serious about the game and had been involved in a number of transgressions earlier as well. So one wonders if he is really bothered about the shame he has brought to the nation.

Returning to Amir, another strong raison d’etre why there are slim chances of him returning to international cricket or succeeding even if he returns is because history has proved that it is a next to impossible task. Take the case of Ajay Jadeja and Nicky Boje. They were banned from the game for their misdemeanors at the height of their cricketing powers. And when they wanted to return, there were no takers. Jadeja tried his hand at domestic cricket for a while, and Boje continues to play T20 cricket, alas their international career hit a point of no return as soon as they were penalized for their involvement with unwanted elements in the game.

Of the punished lot, only Herschelle Gibbs managed to make a successful return to international cricket. In fact he did better in his second stint as a player than the pre-banned era. However, his is more a case of an exception rather than a rule. There is no guarantee that Amir can tread a similar path. It has been learnt that the Pakistan cricket Board is ready to counsel Amir if he desires to return to the big stage. However, one wonders if Amir himself would be mentally tough to go through the grind all over again.

If he indeed gets a chance again he would be very lucky. But it is also a fact that the prying eyes of fans, players and administrators all over the world would be on him. Also, it would be tougher for Amir to win back the confidence of the cricket world, for this is second time that the cricket world has been embroiled in the fixing controversy. The sport had only just managed to get over the first shocker when this spot fixing shame was revealed. As such, it would only be fair if fans want such tainted characters to stay away from the game for ever.

Some noble men like Mike Brearley have had the heart to say that Amir should be given another chance considering his raw age and prodigious talent. But here, the PCB’s role will be essentially critical. Even his Amir does not make it back to the path of fame, the PCB must at least ensure that future Amirs don’t fall along this thorny path for the betterment of both their and world cricket as a whole.

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.

Following their ten-wicket loss in the first Test England reassured fans the encounter was more of a ‘hiccup’ than a true disaster. Alastair Cook, in particular, promised that he, alongside Andrew Strauss, would put things right for England, something that seemed to happen in the first innings of the second Test.

Cook was not bending the truth; the opener scored 94 from 220 deliveries, as England headed towards 207 for 5 in Abu Dhabi. Jonathan Trott collected 74 runs, helping the side to 327 in response to Pakistan’s 257. However, a ghost of the first Test, the bowling of Saeed Ajmal, continued to haunt England.

The home side put on 214 to set England a very make able target, but the tourists collapsed to 72 all out, just half of the total they needed for victory. Anyone following the online cricket betting will have been shocked by their capitulation.

With 2012 less than four weeks old, it is perhaps too early to tell if England can hold onto the top spot on the ICC Test Rankings, especially given that they have played precious little Test cricket since gaining the title, last summer but it is clear problems remain.

England have attached greater importance to Test cricket, in recent months, with Graeme Swann calling for ODIs to be abolished, in a bid to improve England’s performance in longer forms of cricket.

A renewed focus on practising on flat, slow wickets, as opposed to the “traditional wickets of green grass”, to quote Michael Vaughan, could also begin to have an effect on England’s ability overseas, over the coming months. England have, in the past, been criticised for failing to react to spin-bowling on a deteriorating pitch and it is obviously something they need to work on.

With their batsmen once again failing to deal with spin, it is clear that the England side have a long way to go if they want to win series played in unfamiliar conditions and if they are unable to address this issue they may not be the number one Test side for much longer.

By: Celia Roche

India has just finished with the latest whitewash, this one in Australia. They have been lucky to not to have been seen by most of their countrymen, thanks to the time zones – but indeed their fan club has taken a dent world over.

Indian side’s deficiencies were exposed last summer at the hands of Englishmen but when the bucks are flowing, and the priorities are different, it really needs something bigger to wake someone from the deep slumber – and that precisely seems to be the case with BCCI’s selection committee and coaching panel.

Story remains the same, albeit noise is gaining amplitude and if we try to measure frustration with some instrument, maybe the needle this time is lying well in the red. This time, shouts are from all over, and above all some comments by Sehwag on media have been making rounds, discussed, criticized, condemned and termed as another attempt to putting problems under the rug. Maybe he has grown habitual of those beautiful cheerleaders dancing on every slog he makes at the boundary, and those adverts where he is trying to come out as somebody next to Gandhi. To his bad luck, either that was a good dream or he is now having a scary one.

Indian cricket and BCCI have become more of a hyperbole lately. It is a bubble which is waiting to bust. Unfortunately, its cricket that has suffered the most. Quality has been replaced with big loud talking mouths. BCCI has become a casino playing Ponzi schemes with all a great cricket loving and cricket crazy nation.

They have a chronic problem with playing overseas, and what astonishes me is that rather than to focus on it and to make changes, they have stuck to same line ups, same strategy as if they cannot read and understand the scoreboard. Indian reliance on same old five i.e. Gambhir, Sehwag, Tendulkar, Laxman and Dravid as if nobody can get a chance to play as long as these five do not voluntarily step down, is what bothers me. All five of them have been playing one innings a match and throwing away their wickets in the other innings throughout the Australian tour. Indian test performances are bound to take another nose dive when these oldies begin to take to exit door because they do not have any developed alternates.

They had no clue absolutely on how to handle bounce. One wonders as whether it was the same team which outclassed Aussies in their last tour four years ago. India has hardly focused on fast bowling. Australia has been bagging wickets with pace and India has had to rely on medium fast and spin. They could have made corrections in second match, when they had the experience of first. But, they did not.

India needs to shift focus on its bowling now. It has been years since they came up with a genuine fast bowler who could generate pace of over 145 150kph. They need to come up with more Irfan Pathans but this time also to tag them as ‘Fragile’ or ‘Handle with care’. Indian problems with seaming wickets in England and bouncing tracks in Australia epitomize their lack of ability to handle this department. They are lacking by miles in this side, and are paying a heavy price for it.

BCCI might be the richest board in the world, and its players might be eyeing properties in Monaco or some estate in Europe but all this does not mean they have the best team. BCCI has been lucky to have grown in clout this much, and it would be very kind of it to also focus on the product it showcases world over.

By: Sheikh Usman N.

“Author is a computer software engineer by profession but a very keen follower of cricket. With his blog ‘Doosra’, he intends to express his views candidly to a wider audience.”

Take the case of the series against West Indies both and home and away. The Indian batting collapsed on more than a few occasions, and they managed to get away only because the Windies weren’t capable of capitalizing on India’s failings. The chief reason for India’s batting failures can be attributed to the length of the T20 tournament. Most of the batsmen’s minds were so conditioned to playing shots that they couldn’t stick at the crease for even a reasonable amount of time. So worried were they of losing their wickets in a tizzy in West Indies, they shut down the chase in one of the Tests when they needed less than 100 in 15 overs with most of their wickets in hand. This was a precursor to what was to follow in England and Australia. Unfortunately, neither Team India nor the BCCI paid heed to any of the warning signals.

Another clear rationale behind India’s debacle in England was that a number of players were either unfit after the IPL or picked up injuries during it. The whole embarrassing situation played itself out in England. Zaheer Khan, who was India’s best bowler throughout the World Cup, struggled in the IPL. That’s not all, he even looked unfit during the tournament. However, instead of being rested he played throughout the event. As a result, he went to England without being 100 per cent fit, and pulled out of the England series on the very first day of the Test. The start couldn’t have been worse for India, and things did not improve as the days progressed on the tour.

All the players’ techniques were tested, but apart from Rahul Dravid no one could get out of the IPL rut. The BCCI did not help matters by sending in an unfit Virender Sehwag to try and work some miracles. The result was the exactly the opposite. Sehwag registered a couple ducks and, apart from the record 219 one-day score at home, has looked all at sea both in England and Australia. Suresh Raina, another played who is a superstar in the IPL, also failed miserably, putting his Test career on the backtrack for the moment. The problem with IPL is that even flukes can look like greats. Take the case of Swapnil Asnodkar and Paul Valthaty, both of whom briefly shone in the tournament, but have done precious little otherwise. Of course, there have been positives too to come out from the IPL – R. Ashwin being the noteworthy case. However, there is no second opinion about it that the harms have outdone the goods.

This is not to suggest that the club tournament must be scrapped altogether. It can exist with international cricket, albeit in a shorter duration format and the timings too shouldn’t clash with international matches. It was senseless to have an IPL tournament merely a week after India’s World Cup triumph. Fans had hardly celebrated the memorable win that the T20 tournament got underway. Also, the BCCI ought to take sterner measures if they want Indian cricket to do well in the future. Having sporting tracks at home, as suggested by some experts, is not a solution. That would actually mean that we play into the hands of the opposition by losing the home advantage. Restructuring the India A tours with more visits to England, Australia and South Africa is the way forward.

If the BCCI, instead, concentrates more on the IPL, it would end up becoming the monster that’s killing Indian cricket, as Arjuna Ranatunga famously pointed out sometime back.

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.

Of course, he was in charge of the team when they won their first Test ever on South African soil, at Durban. However, that had more to do with the individual brilliance of Kumar Sangakkara and Rangana Herath than some shrewd leadership on the part of Dilshan. That said, he did contribute handsomely in one of the ODIs that Lanka won against the Proteas, and his side did manage to finish the series with a respectable 3-2 loss. However, that was far from enough to give Dilshan a longer run at the top. Nine months are enough for a mother to prepare her baby to enter the world, and similarly the same duration should be feasible to figure out whether or not a person is fit to lead his side. In Dilshan’s case, the answer was a resounding no.

For starters, as the old cliche goes, a leader must lead from the front. With Dilshan, it clearly wasn’t the case. He was visibly struggling to cope up with the additional responsibility of marshalling his troops and, as a result, his batting suffered badly. Some captains manage to inspire the side with their charismatic presence even when they themselves are not performing to potential. Mark Taylor is a classic example of such a leader and Sourav Ganguly too, albeit briefly. However, Dilshan clearly does not belong to this rare breed of captains. On the contrary, his struggles only mirrored those of the team’s as Sri Lanka went from one low to another. One doesn’t really know how much of a part the delay in payment of dues demotivated them. However, it certainly wouldn’t have done them any good. Unfortunately for Dilshan, it all combined to compound his misery as the Lankans went on losing one series after the other. And it all culminated with the losses in South Africa, though there were a few positives for the Lankans from it.

Apart from struggling for runs, Dilshan did not do much to impress in his role as captain either. He did not come across as an intelligent tactician nor was he willing to go the unorthodox way when things weren’t going his team’s way. Instead, he looked at loss for ideas, and even the presence of two former skippers Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene did not help much. The result was series losses in Test and one-dayers against England, Australia, Pakistan and, of course, the Proteas. As such, it was only fair that Sri Lanka began looking beyond Dilshan as skipper for the good of the side’s future.

Having said that, it was somewhat surprising that former skipper Jayawardene, who had given up the taxing job in 2009, has been reappointed to the post. The decision was taken possibly because there was no other real option. Vice-captain Angelo Mathews may have been an option, but it is a fact that the all-rounder has cemented his place in the team only recently. He is definitely the captain in waiting for Sri Lanka, the question is when and how. Meanwhile, Dilshan will do well to re-establish his place in the team as a dangerous opening bat, for his performance as a player remains critical to Lanka’s fortunes.

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.

It is a given that all cricketers are judged based on the consistency of their performances. And, on a scale of one to ten, Afridi would be ranked very low. In recent times though, Afridi has done exceptionally well as a bowler. Thus, whatever runs he scores these are considered as a bonus. In short, he has transformed himself into a highly credible bowling all-rounder. While he never came to terms with Test cricket, and, not surprisingly, retired from the long format of the game recently, he still has a lot to offer for Pakistan in ODIs and T20s. And thus, him being the best-selling player during the BPL auction is understandable.

The T20 game is tailor-made to suit big hitters like Afridi and Chris Gayle. The duo and the likes should consider themselves lucky to be playing in an era where T20 is ruling the roost in cricket. Many others bashers like Lance Klusener and Chris Cairns were not so lucky. The significance of boom bang players like Afridi rises in the T20 format for a number of reasons. While in a 50-over-a-side contest, 20-30 runs don’t make much of a difference, the same can prove to be a match-winning knock in the T20 format. And with Afridi one can be rest assured that he will score them at a blistering rate.

What makes the Afridi of now even more dangerous in T20s is the fact that his bowling has come of age, as mentioned above, and backed by the number of five-fors he took in international ODIs last year. Afridi has the ability to both pick wickets as well as squeeze the number of runs as per the demand of the situation, a precious and rarely possessed ability in bowlers, and one that could go a long way in him achieving consistent success at the T20 level. And, not least of all, he is a brilliant fielder. All these qualities combine to make him the perfect T20 package for any side.

As reported in the media, Afridi has decided to skip the BPL dollars in favor of the ODI series against England, a commendable decision made by the destructive batsman. He will be available for the BPL final in case the Dhaka Gladiators make it that far. But, that is another scenario altogether. Before that, he needs to concentrate on doing well in the ODIs and T20s against the Englishmen. Having been their talisman in recent times, the Pakistan team will be looking forward to match-winning performances by him in the upcoming series too. Often in the past he has promised a lot and delivered little. Pakistan cannot afford that scenario now for he is the most experienced hand in their team today, and the former skipper ought to lead from the front.

Afridi’s selection as the most expensive player in the BPL will remain as a jewel in the crown whether he gets a chance to feature in the league or not. More significantly though, he needs to now prove his value as the most versatile cricketer in the Pakistan team, by backing the worth given to him by the BPL with consistent performances against the Englishmen.

Over to Afridi.

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.

Returning to the teesra question, it seems more of a mental disintegration tactic being tried out by Ajmal and less of a lethal weapon in his armoury. And, anyways, it has been proven over a period of time that mystery balls are overrated. Remember, Saqlain Mushtaq made a big name for himself with his doosra, picking up plenty of wickets initially. However, towards the end of his international career, his inability to strike despite possessing the famed delivery proved to be his undoing.

In recent times, the case of Ajantha Mendis stands out as the best example of how over dependence on one wicket-taking delivery can ruin a bowler’s career. Mendis stormed onto the scene with his mystery carom ball, which bamboozled even the wizards of spin bowling, India. Legends like Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman, all failed to read his variations and succumbed to him incessantly during Mendis’ debut series. That was about four years ago. Today, he is not even a certainty in the playing eleven for Sri Lanka. For the record, even Shoaib Akhtar boasted of having developed a special delivery to get rid of Sachin Tendulkar during the 2003 World Cup. He gave it an awesome name – spit rock. The result – on the day of the game he was pounded all over the park by Tendulkar.

There is another problem with Ajmal’s teesra, if he does possess it. His bowling action has been under constant scrutiny, and even though the ICC has cleared him, it wouldn’t hesitate to do a recheck in case Ajmal starts bowling a teesra. And Ajmal would want any such hindrance at this stage of his career, when he is at the top of his game. He should keep the case of former Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik in mind, who lost his bowling ability owing to the constant examination he was subjected to due to his action.

If Ajmal’s teesra sensation is indeed a tactic to get under the skin of the Englishmen, which seems to be the case, it is a masterstroke. As it is, England are far from the best players of spin. And, who knows, this whole teesra talk might well have unsettled them during the first Test. Just like the Indian batsmen in Australia were waiting back for dreaded bouncers which rarely came, English batsmen might have been unsettled, wary of the unseen delivery which never came. Whatever be the case, England’s capitulation has given a major boost to the Pakistan team, and a much needed one at that considering the ugly things that have transpired in the interim.

That Ajmal, with his ten-wicket haul, played the major hand in the win reiterated that he is among the better spinners in the world currently. However, he needs to keep on performing consistently, and in all conditions to be rated the best unanimously, and not just based on rankings. After all, the teesra tactic may have worked against England, but there is no guarantee that it will have the same impact on other nations.

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.

Saeed had a fabulous year in test cricket to say the least. He played his first test match in the West Indian tour at Providence Stadium, Guyana in May. It was his career best by bagging eleven wickets between two innings by taking 5 and 6 wickets in first and second innings respectively. This was the man playing test cricket after a span of six months and making such an impact, leaving his hosts completely clueless. He bowled doosras, top spinners, ball coming in and moving either ways, all sorts of varieties which could unsettle any batsman. Just a few months back, when he was bowling to Sachin in World cup semifinal, he bowled some pure beauties.

Best thing about Saeed is the way he can move the ball either ways, and even can produce the ones that go straight deceived by high arm action and resultant flight. Also the intelligent use of seam and those dark spots on tracks which are generally found in Asian wickets loads him with so much of guile that even the most focused batsmen find it hard to follow the hand and ball movements. Saeed also seems to have developed newer varieties which the television cameras will take time to understand but the deliveries that he has started bowling lately and the results are a proof of some serious lab work going on behind the scenes.

Pakistan’s new spin master – Saeed Ajmal – took 50 wickets in just 8 tests with 16 innings. He had a phenomenal year as the best for innings was 6/42 against Windies and best for match being 11/111 in the same match at Guyana. His yearly economy rate came down to 2.44 in 2011 as compared to 2.93 in 2010. His average has also improved to 23.86 in 2011 as compared to 36.66 in 2010. What is more interesting that he bowled a mammoth 487 overs in 2011 test matches as compared to just 187.1 overs in 2010 which shows how much Pakistani team depends on him.

Another important thing to notice is that last year he got to play under Salman Butt in the early part of year till the spot-fixing controversy and then Misbah assumed the responsibility. There is a clear difference in Butt and Misbah’s approach to handle the opposition. Ajmal obviously fits in much better and holds a very strong position in the scheme of things in current skipper’s mind. Also he deserves the credit for never letting the team down, which earns him the confidence to build on further.

Also that with time, Saeed has graduated to advanced levels of spin by doing justice to doosras, off-spin, top-spin and all the other unnamed varieties that we get to see when this magician runs in to produce the beauties.

In the end, I would say that Saeed Ajmal came in the team when Pakistan was lacking in spin department by miles, and over a period of very short time he has become a very reliable, dependable and important person in the playing eleven. It is a treat to watch him bowl with the same Saqlain Mushtaq’s type high arm curled bowling action and replicating the results.

By: Sheikh Usman N.

“Author is a computer software engineer by profession but a very keen follower of cricket. With his blog ‘Doosra’, he intends to express his views candidly to a wider audience.”

India have been stumbling away from home ever since Gautam Gambhir has begun failing at the top of the order. He is the one who has often given India that rock solid start in the company of the swashbuckling Virender Sehwag, laying the platform of the Indian middle order to notch up big scores. Similarly, Australia too have been under the cosh with Shane Watson mostly out injured and Philip Hughes not living up to potential. This is where Ed Cowan could be of great value to the Australians. Like Langer, he belongs to the old school of openers, ready to hold one end up for as long as possible and allow the other stroke makers to blossom around him. This precious quality of his was evident in his debut Test itself, at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, where he played a vital hand in rescuing the Aussies after the early setbacks.

There were positive signs from Cowan in the practice game against the Indians itself, during which he notched up a well-compiled century and staked his claim as a Test opener. Deservedly, he got the chance, and credit to him that he did not waste the opportunity. Known as the best leaver in Aussie cricket at present, he may have faltered in the art, misjudging a leave in the crucial second innings, but did enough in the match to show that he is one for the future. At 29, he is not extremely young, but to balance things out he has a lot of experience on hand, which he will need to call upon as Australia desperately need every inch of it. It came in very handy during the first innings at the MGC, where he in the company of Ricky Ponting, also under pressure to retain his spot in the side, put on a partnership that went a long way in keeping Australia afloat in the Test. And had it not been for an umpiring error, who knows Cowan could well have notched up a century on Test debut.

There are times when domestic experience can be more worthy that raw talent. The struggle of Hughes and the ease with which Cowan stepped into Test cricket makes this gulf clear. Hughes is still young, talented and has time on his side, but for the moment Cowan definitely seems the better choice. Of course, these are still very early days in the left-hander’s Test career. We will get a more decipherable view of where he stands as an international opener by the end of the series against India. But, it cannot be denied that he has all the right attributes like patience and perseverance to succeed as an opener at the highest level.

Cowan’s selection has come at an appropriate time for Australian cricket. But he also has another challenge on hand. When Watson returns from injury, either he or Shaun Marsh will have to sit out. As of now, Cowan has inched ahead with Marsh failing in both the innings at the MCG. However, Cowan cannot afford to relax as Marsh himself is a highly talented batsman. This internal rivalry with the Australian side can only be beneficial to the home team.

India beware!

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.

The Lankan stalwart has an excellent record at home, having scored well over 6000 runs in 70 matches at a staggering average of 63 and as many as 20 hundreds since making his debut in 1997. He also has that unforgettable 374 as his highest score. In contrast, his away record is at best average. In 53 Tests he has played away from home between 1998 and 2011, Jayewardene has managed 3635 at an average of just over 40, with 9 tons and a highest of 275. But, the real story lies even deeper.

Jayewardene has always struggled when he sets foot out of the sub-continent. In Australia, he averages a meagre 34.25 from four Tests, having scored only 274 runs with the help of a solitary ton. The record’s even worse in South Africa. He hasn’t managed to score a single century in seven Tests against the Proteas. Possessing a disappointing average of 30 for his 390 runs with a highest of 98, Jayewardene has a chance to improve his record during the ongoing tour. He needs to come up with some big scores to earn unanimous respect from all quarters.

Surprisingly, the experienced Lankan batsman cannot boast of a good record in New Zealand as well, which is one of the weaker teams in international cricket. In four matches that he has featured in the Kiwi nation, Jayewardene has scored just 194 runs, 141 of them coming in one innings. And his average of just under 28 is not something he would be proud of. England is another country where he has again struggled to get going. Despite getting an opportunity to play 10 Tests in the country of the game’s berth, Jayewardene has never quite managed to get used to the conditions. With just 614 runs to show at a paltry average of 34 and only two centuries, Jayawardene’s reputation is dented further. For reasons best known to him, he hasn’t done too well in Pakistan either. In nine matches against the Asian rivals, he has registered just under 700 runs. And though the average of 42 is acceptable, it is still way below his career average of 50 plus.

Like so many other teams, Jayewardene has also reserved his best for India. He has played six matches against his favourite opponent in India, scoring over 600 runs at a highly impressive average of 63. But, that’s not enough to undo his failings in challenging conditions. For the record, he has struggled against the Aussies even at home. In nine games versus the former number one team in the world, he has registered only 529 runs at an unconvincing average of 35.

It can be argued that the weak figures aren’t solely Jayewardene fault, for the Lankans hardly travel abroad, and the island nation’s board could have done better that just arranging frequent trips to India. Then again, it is a fact that Jayawardene hasn’t performed to the full potential in the opportunities he has got. At 34, he still has a few years on hand to set the record straight. Probably, quitting the shorter formats and concentrating entirely on Tests could be the way to go. Whichever path he chooses, it cannot be debated that despite scaling the 10000 peak, Jayewardene still has a point to prove.

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.