India vs. Sri Lanka, August 3rd, Dambulla

Captaincy is looking a lot tougher for Rahul Dravid now. India have been unable to beat Sri Lanka in this competition in two attempts. Today when Sri Lanka were 95-6, chasing 220, it looked like Dravid would win his first significant match in the Tri-series, but Mahela Jayawardene thwarted all plans.

Jayawardene's batting average of 30 reveals that he will probably never become the new Aravinda DeSilva of the Lanka team. But, today his innings would have shed a lot of the DeSilva baggage that he has been unfairly forced to carry. In the beginning of the innings he was completely bogged down, but never gave it away and in the end guided his team to a remarkable victory with a flurry of strokes. His partner in the undefeated 6th wicket stand was Upul Chandana. Chandana had an almost perfect match; displaying his athleticism in the field, beautifully drifting leg spin bowling and a hard hitting knock with the bat that eased the pressure off Jayawardene.

India almost had the match in the bag, and this will be a tough defeat to swallow for the team. One can argue that the batting became much easier into the night under the lights as the pitch stopped gripping for the spinners and the ball came on nicely to the bat. The bowlers were pretty ineffective after a certain point, and Dravid was expecting Harbhajan to exert the pressure after the seamers opening spells and take a couple of wickets, but today wasn't Bhajji's day. But, the main reason for the defeat was not the bowling, but the failure of the Indian middle order. Sehwag and Ganguly had the best opening partnership of the series with 67 runs in the first 15 overs. They were helped by some shoddy catching, Sehwag had 2 lives, and a defensive approach from Attapatu in the first 15 overs. But, after Sehwag got out, the innings never built up any momentum. A carefully Ganguly, who never raised his bat to acknowledge cheers from his mates for his 10,000th run or for his half century, was circumspect in the beginning, but he did try to accelerate by stepping out and hitting a few boundaries before Upul Chandana snared him with a sharp legbreak. Laxman got a life on zero, when the umpire failed to hear an edge, but he continued to potter around, hitting the ball repeatedly to the fielders, before ending his misery when a Dilshan offbreak cleaned him up. Chandana and part time off spinner, Tilakaratne Dilshan strangulated the Indian batsmen and never allowed any of them to get away. Dhoni hit a few powerful shots with his baseball player like forearms, but it didn't last long. Dilshan took 4 wickets and adds his name to the list of spinners who have feasted on the supposedly best players of spin.

At 117-2, a total of 240 seemed like a reasonable target, but Dravid failed for once and the middle order collapsed. For a while it looked like India wouldn't even reach 200. It was only a superb cameo from Pathan that vaulted India to 220. Pathan hit the ball powerfully and he hit straight. He managed to add 40 odd runs in the last 3 overs, and his partners didn't contribute much.

It wasn't enough. India's batting is still weak and the fifth bowler today, Ganguly and Sehwag, were expensive. Maybe India should drop Raina and play the only true all rounder in the squad, JP Yadav. Dravid easily is the captain with the most tactical nous in this competition but it has become apparent, that alone is not enough. A Captain is only as good as his team, and I am sure Ganguly will second that.