da fazobetai： © CricInfo The current Indian team seems to be showing a lot of character and areal hunger to win
Erapalli Prasanna01-Jul-2002
© CricInfoThe current Indian team seems to be showing a lot of character and areal hunger to win. Two victories in consecutive days is indeedsomething to cherish, and hats off to Sourav Ganguly and the boys forgetting off to a wonderful start in the NatWest tri-series. The mostimportant element of the triumphs was that on both occasions Indialost the toss and were forced to chase. Coming under such adversecircumstances – for India are not willing chasers – the wins will bean ideal tonic for a long English summer.But no fan of cricketing heroics and entertainment – myself included -can fail to look at Sri Lanka’s continuing slide of form with morethan a tinge of sadness. Sanath Jayasuriya and his men look a paleshadow of the team that notched up a nine-Test winning streak. Missingace spin bowler Muttiah Muralitharan is understandable, but Sri Lankahas enough talent waiting in the wings to take on the very best.After losing two Tests and two one-dayers in fairly emphatic fashion,the morale of the Sri Lankan team must be close to rock-bottom, andthey are clearly lacking in self-belief. Having won the toss andelected to bat, they were expected to put together a solid battingperformance against a confident Indian team. Unfortunately for them,no Indian supporter would complain about their opponent’s carelessapproach or the modest total they reached.In addition to worrying about his team’s performance, Jayasuriya alsohas to grapple with his own woeful personal form. Yesterday he showedglimpses of the mighty attacking shots that he possesses in hisarmoury – particularly in one fierce slash over square third-man off ZaheerKhan for six – but Jayasuriya yet again was unable to translate itinto a noteworthy innings.In such a situation, when a captain has worries in two departments,failure in one inevitably feeds failure in the other. CharithaBuddhika, brought in specifically to bolster the bowling attack, wasused for just three overs, and Jayasuriya’s captaincy was found wantingon a few other aspects of the game as well.His counterpart, however, looks to me very confident on this tour, andthe series will go a long way in shaping Ganguly into a top-notchcaptain. He seemed yesterday to have a good idea about the strengthsand weaknesses of the bowling at his disposal, and the fieldplacements and bowling changes were very effective.It was good to see Ashish Nehra coming back into the side, primarilybecause it would mean that Ajit Agarkar would not have to take the newball. I have always believed that Agarkar is a far better bowler withthe older ball, over which he has considerably more control. That wasproved amply at the Oval; it was Agarkar who destroyed the Sri Lankantop-order with some purposeful fast bowling. The subtle variations inpace and swing had the Sri Lankan batsmen guessing, leading totheir downfall.
© CricInfoSri Lanka’s seamers Chaminda Vaas and Nuwan Zoysa too bowled extremelywell, and at one stage, India, teetering at 135 for five, could easilyhave slid to defeat. But the Sri Lankans could not break the crucialpartnership between youngsters Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif.Both youngsters play their game with much evident enthusiasm, andtheir haring between the wickets for singles was particularlyendearing. Yuvraj and Kaif, I am sure, will be part of the core of theIndian challenge at the World Cup in 2003.If there were any disappointing factors at all from Sunday’s match, itmust be the performance of Anil Kumble. He seemed to be too keyed up, andthat naturally restricted his bowling abilities. Kumble is anexperienced campaigner, and I am sure he will sort things outquickly.But it is sad to see someone like Harbhajan Singh sacrificed for thesake of the team’s balance. Having said that, Rahul Dravid seems to begetting accustomed to his wicket-keeping tasks, and the catch he tookto dismiss Jayasuriya was an outstanding one. This clearly helps add acertain depth to the Indian batting, and if they continue to play insimilar vein, I do not see any team stopping them in this NatWestseries.