Lacklustre show by Indians

It was a totally lacklustre performance by the Indian team. The will to win was lacking, and one is sure millions of fans in the country would have felt disappointed. The Lankans called the shots.

Consistency has been missing in this Indian team. The two defeats at the hands of the Lankans in Sharjah would not have done the morale of the side any good.

The Indians may have already qualified for the final, but when the game was just coming out of a major crisis, every match is important for winning back the confidence of the people.

The Lankans were let off the hook early on after paceman Ajit Agarkar bowled an inspiring spell. The other bowlers failed to rise to the occasion, and India thus lost a valuable opportunity to cash in on the early wickets.

All credit though to Marvan Atapattu and Mahela Jayawardene, who ensured that a brisk run-rate was maintained irrespective of the loss of skipper, Sanath Jayasuriya, and Romesh Kaluwitharana.

Atapattu is a classy player who seldom gets bogged down. Jayawardene is immensely talented, but his impulsive ways had led to his downfall on the earlier occasions. This time he went on to a well deserved hundred.

It is quite astonishing how the Lankans manage to wriggle out of tight situations time and again. They achieve this with fine strokeplay. Earlier, Aravinda de Silva used to revel in this role, now others like Atapattu have taken over the mantle. In fact, one has become a big fan of the Lankan brand of cricket.

Coming to the Indian batting, it was a huge let-down to say the least. Sachin Tendulkar strove hard, but India was hardly in the hunt after his dismissal.

The Indians are poor chasers, and given their record, it was hardly surprising that they wilted under pressure, in pursuit of 294. At the moment, there is too much dependence on Tendulkar and captain, Sourav Ganguly.

Finally, to the star of the match - Muttiah Muralitharan. He returned amazing figures, revealing his total dominance over the batsmen.

In the days of overs-limit cricket, when offies tend to operate flat, Muralitharan still depends on flight and turn. Like we all know he can turn the ball on any surface, but what sets him apart is his ability to spin the ball both ways with the same action.

This puts the seeds of doubts in the minds of the batsmen, and they are often caught in two minds when they see the ball in flight.

K. SRIKKANTH

www.krishsrikkanth.com

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Section  : Sport
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