India vs Sri Lanka, Baroda, Nov 12, 2005

Sri Lanka’s planning and strategy has been poor throughout the series and the trend continued with their bizarre decision to bat first after winning the toss. The pitch had a smattering of grass on it and the morning conditions would help the swing bowlers. Irfan Pathan wasn’t going to miss out on this gift on his home ground, and promptly got an early breakthrough. Ajit Agarkar, the best bowler of the series also cashed in with a wicket and Sri Lanka were struggling after the first hour of the game. Marvan Atapattu and Russell Arnold fought back with a valiant partnership, but it wasn’t enough to stop the Indian momentum. Tendulkar and Sehwag gave them a blazing start, Irfan Pathan came in at number three to continue his home ground celebration and Dhoni hammered in all but the last nail on the coffin.

On a pitch that had something in it for the fast bowlers, RP Singh produced another excellent spell and broke the developing partnership Kumara Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene. Mahela turned the ball straight into Karthik’s hands at midwicket and Sangakkara tried another one of his fool hardy pull shots on a ball outside off stump only to spoon it up for a steepling catch to Yuvraj. RP Singh then slanted one past Dilshan for the batsman to nick it to Dhoni and then got another edge off Atapattu, but umpire Hariharan somehow didn’t hear it; can’t really blame him because even Dhoni didn’t hear it. Harbhajan was his miserly self again, but Murali Karthik proved to be expensive. He chose a negative line with his left arm over the wicket deliveries pitched outside leg stump. Atapattu swept him away repeatedly for boundaries. Arnold played another fine knock, and it was a remarkable recovery as the pair batted together for more than 20 overs, circumspect in the beginning and accelerating towards the end. Pathan claimed them both with a bit of luck as both the lefthander and right hander found Harbhajan Singh on the square boundary. Agarkar bowled some fast swinging yorkers and full tosses to contain Sri Lanka and claimed ‘Loco Loku’ but they managed to reach a total of 244, which they at least had a chance to defend.

But, it proved to be too small as Sachin and Sehwag provided another blistering start to the Indian innings. Dilhara Fernando bowled with some sharp pace around 145 kph and even had Tendulkar jumping with the bounce he obtained, but he went for a lot of runs as Sehwag sent him away faster than it came. Fernando finally got Sehwag with fast and full delivery that swung away from the right hander. The 53 run opening partnership was followed up by another stunning innings from Pathan at number three. He hit 4 fours and 2 sizes and every shot of his was over the 30 yard circle. The lad has remarkable strength and confidence to clear the close in fielders and seems like perfect hitter to utilize the 20 power play overs. Pathan and Tendulkar were dismissed quickly after their half century partnership, and Sri Lanka sensed an opening when Loco Loku sneaked through the defenses of Mohhamd Kaif. But Man of the Series Mahendra Singh Dhoni and the inform Indian captain Rahul Dravid batted without fear for India to canter to a win. As usual Dhoni smote a few sixes but perished while trying to finish the match off with one. Dravid was left to hit the winning stroke.

The Sri Lankans have been completely outplayed in this series. As Atapattu himself admitted they struggled with the PowerPlays. If you remember they did not employ the new rules in the tri-series at home just because the tournament started one day before the ICC rules became mandatory. That was daft decision and they have really paid for it in this series. Instead of playing with the new rules in a familiar environment they have struggled to cope with it in India.

The Indian selectors have done a wonderful job in this series by picking youngsters and giving them an opportunity. They unearthed good bowlers like RP Singh, Shree Santh and even two long term batting prospects in Suresh Raina and Venugopal Rao. RP Singh really looks like a mature bowler and is a cross between Zaheer Khan and Irfan Pathan. He hits the deck like Zaheer and can swing it like Irfan and can also touch speed upto 143kph, when he bends his back. He is the complete package. Shree Santh impressed with his ability to maintain his line while generating sharp pace. The team is back and it looks like a very good unit in batting, bowling and most importantly fielding.

India will be looking forward to the South Africa series with confidence, whereas Sri Lanka will be mighty pleased that they have a fortuitous break in between the one day games and the Test matches.