India vs Sri Lanka, Nagpur, October 25, 2005

The masters of ‘strangulation’, a term coined by the Lankans, were subjected to India’s version of the same. A huge score while batting first was followed up by some wonderful spin bowling as India snuffed the fight out of the Sri Lankans. Harbhajan Singh bowled as well as he has in recent memory and deserved more than his three wickets. With Murali Kartik, super subbed into the Lankan chase, firing in the ball and extracting sharp turn, reminiscent of the test match against Australia on the minefield in Mumbai, it looked almost impossible to bat. Rahul Dravid was the captain in that Test match too.

In the morning, one had to marvel at Sachin Tendulkar’s return to international cricket after six months. He put to rest all concerns about his tennis elbow with a stunning lofted on drive for six off Dilhara Fernando. He proceeded to delight everyone with a cheeky paddle for four of Vaas, and also revealed a powerful ondrive of Fernando. It was an extremely aggressive knock and he set the tone for the entire innings. He didn’t hesitate to play aerial shots and was almost back to his fluent best. His lack of match fitness showed as he began cramping up in the eighties. He missed his hundred which would have made it a fairytale comeback, but still it was a remarkable innings.

The positive intent of the Indians was evident throughout the match, and today Dravid proved to be the captain with the Midas touch. Irfan Pathan was sent in at number three and showed that he can be India’s answer to the Flintoff phenomenon that is putting pressure on every international team to find an all rounder. He played with a straight bat initially before opening his shoulders and started playing the big shots. He was troubled by Murali, but got really stuck into Upul Chandana, clouting him for 17 runs in one over with two massive sixes. The Indians exploited the 20 power play overs and didn’t let up even after that as the sixes and fours continued to flow. Pathan accelerated quickly to catch up with Tendulkar, and the combined assault resulted in 164 runs in 24 overs. Both batsmen were dismissed in quick succession as the Lankans fought back but Dravid came in and played like the Vidarbha ground was tailor made for him. His timing was spot on from ball one, and he continued India's aggressive tone with a blistering 85 from 63 balls. Dhoni again flexed his cavalier muscles and along with Dravid powered India to a mammoth 350-6, with Dravid remaining unbeaten.

The Sri Lankan run chase got off to the worst possible start, as Pathan swung one back into the cynics who doubted his ability in the subcontinent and cleaned up Marvan Attapatu. Shreesanth started well on his debut with a promising first over but soon found out that an ODI in India is not the best place for a young fast bowler to make his debut. Jayasuriya and Sangakkara pounced on every slight error in line and length from all three fast bowlers. Sangakkara was in great touch and smashed two sixes on the leg side, one with power and the other with finesse. After giving his three medium pacers a short stint with the new ball, Dravid quickly realized that the seamers were up against it on this pitch, and in the 11^th over he chose not to enforce the power play and brought in the spinners. Harbhajan struck in his first over as he went around the wicket and Jayasuriya tapped the ball to Dravid at short cover. In the very next over Sangakkara somehow worked the turning ball straight back to Sehwag and with two soft dismissals the promising chase was over almost as quickly as it began. Bhajji and Murali Karthik then destroyed the Lankan middle and lower order with three wickets each. The chase became impossible as the ball was turning sharply even when it was fired in. Whoops of delight from the bowlers became common place as one after the other the batsmen left shaking their ahead disbelievingly at the turn. Shreesanth was brought back to clean up the tail and his bowling figures. The young lad looks like an excellent prospect because of his control over his line and length. Also he has got Sachin Tendulkar as his mentor at mid on.

Sachin’s knock really highlighted how much this Indian team revolves around him. Later in the field he showed why Greg Chappell played a masterstroke by anointing him the chief mentor of the team. Strategy and encouragement were all visible in Tendulkar’s proactive performance in the field today. Dravid couldn’t have been more pleased with Tendulkar’s return and said as much in the post match ceremony.

It was an emphatic performance by the new India captain; round one to him, just eleven more to go.