Low-scoring affairs

The first two matches gave further evidence, if any is needed, that most batsmen of this era, fattened on pancake-flat batting strips, have slipped into decadence, incapable of fighting the good fight when the bowlers have assistance. S. Ram Mahesh reports.

The talk before one left warm, busy Colombo, with its numerous security checks and frequent road blocks, to travel north-east to Dambulla, set amidst hills and lakes, was of how Sri Lanka would spring the age-old trap in the one-dayers: one that involved slow, crumbling surfaces on which their spinners would turn lethal, creeping crop-cutters, extremely difficult to get away off the square. And this was a plan that predated the Murali-Mendis hook-up. Now, said the local jo urnalists and cricketers, their eyes shining, we will see something — “Mendis and Murali will be impossible machchaan. Your big players couldn’t play them, how will the youngsters?”

The strip at the Rangiri Dambulla Stadium, a wonderfully modern facility, used to play slow and low. And curiously under lights, it would turn a seamer’s paradise, the ball snaking this way and that — there’s no scientific explanation for this abrupt change in behaviour, but it’s observable and repeatable to an extent it couldn’t be a one-off. This phenomenon had in fact stopped day-night cricket in Dambulla, rendering Sri Lanka’s only stadium other than the Premadasa to have lights useless for the purpose it was brought into existence.

So what we were left with was two day games on tracks reputed to play low and slow.

Instead what we found (and ‘we’ is used in the inclusive sense of the term, not in reference to a group of wandering minstrels) was a spiffing cricket wicket. “It looks a really good wicket,” said Mahela Jayawardene, the Sri Lankan captain, on seeing the neatly manicured strip. “It looks fresh and hard, and it should do a bit for both the fast bowlers and the spinners, with a bit of pace, turn and bounce.”

The ground is also among the most open in the world; little built-up area in terms of stands allows free passage to the strong winds that gust across it all day. This brings swing for the quicker bowlers and drift for the spinners.

The conditions bred two low-scoring matches — further evidence, if any is needed, that most batsmen of this era, fattened on pancake-flat batting strips, have slipped into decadence, incapable of fighting the good fight when the bowlers have assistance. Sri Lanka won the first — comfortably — and just as it appeared India was too funked by Mendis to fight back, M. S. Dhoni’s men clinched a tense contest to level the five-match series 1-1. So the teams left Dambulla even, although India had more gains than it might have expected.

Sri Lanka waltzed away with the first match, turning in such a comprehensive performance that it looked again the team that had reached the final of the 2007 World Cup, the inconsistencies of the period in between forgotten. Dhoni, who admitted later that he had misread the strip, reckoning it wouldn’t seam as much, decided to bat, and Sri Lanka’s new-ball bowlers set the stage for another Ajantha Mendis grand performance. India, which missed Virender Sehwag — in splendid form through the Test series — before the game with a sprained ankle, lost Gautam Gambhir in the first over, bowled by Chaminda Vaas, thereby being deprived in next to no time of the two players who had countered Mendis and Murali best during the Tests.

Nuwan Kulasekara took advantage of the wind and the cut on offer from the strip to remove debutant Virat Kohli and No. 3 Suresh Raina. Kulasekara, who had troubled Kohli with in-swing, trapped the batsman on the move with a break-back. Raina then drove Kulasekara on the up, but could neither keep the ball on the ground nor clear the strategically positioned short-cover. Thereafter it went in a blur, Mendis’s four-card trick to con Yuvraj Singh the most engaging passage of play.

Munaf Patel picked up openers Sanath Jayasuriya and Kumar Sangakkara, sparking faint hope, but Jayawardene played an innings of class, touch, and skill to put matters beyond India. “I’m happy that I managed to finish the game off, that’s the important thing,” he said after the match. “The Indian fast bowlers came strong at us. When I was batting with Kumar (Sangakkara) he said the same thing, ‘let’s bat the 15-20 overs, that’s crucial’. Unfortunately Kumar got out but I thought Kapu (Chamara Kapugedera) batted really well.”

The second ODI followed a similar script, but the roles were reversed.

Dhoni won the toss again, this time choosing to bowl, and Zaheer Khan gift-wrapped it for his captain. Bowling with impeccable control, utilising his lefty angle to great effect, Zaheer ripped the heart out of Sri Lanka’s batting, dismissing Sangakkara, Jayasuriya and Jayawardene. The delivery that got Sangakkara was a corker, cutting sharply into the left-hander, breaching his defences and pegging back the off-stump.

Kulasekara and Thilan Thushara resisted stoutly, guiding Sri Lanka, dwindling at 44 for six, to a position from where the home side might have contemplated a score of 180-200, which will have proved competitive. But Praveen Kumar, who had delivered a fine spell with the new ball, returned to claim both with slower creations, differently bowled.

India’s chase of 143 suffered two sets of jolts. First Kulasekara accounted for Irfan Pathan, opening instead of Gambhir (stiff neck) and Suresh Raina, and then Thilan Thushara struck a double blow to leave India on 75 for five. Three men, Kohli, Dhoni and S. Badrinath, stepped up.

Kohli’s 37 was a battling innings, not technically assured, but combative. His partnerships of 36 with Yuvraj Singh and 23 with Dhoni, while not substantial, nudged India closer. The 19-year-old Kohli handled Mendis positively, thinking little of hitting the mystery spinner through the off-side or slog-sweeping him over mid-wicket.

But Kohli drove lazily to cover and Rohit Sharma got his front foot too far across, as Thushara rocked India. Dhoni, who promoted himself, and Badrinath, who has done everything asked of him before national selection, set about chipping away at the runs needed.

The pair ran hard between the wickets, judging their ones and twos adeptly. Dhoni’s show of responsibility, while admirable, was expected; he has nervelessly controlled several chases in his young career. Badrinath was a revelation: his exploits at the domestic level and on ‘A’ tours have been impressive, but never before will he have faced the intense pressure of an international razor-edge chase or the unique challenges posed by Mendis and Murali.

The sixth-wicket partnership of 60 brought India to within eight runs of victory. But Dhoni (39) was bowled off the inside edge when Dilhara Fernando found some reverse swing, and it was left to Badrinath to guide the tail through. Mendis spread panic when he trapped Harbhajan in front, but Zaheer applied himself, and Badrinath struck the winning runs on debut.

THE SCORES

Second ODI, Dambulla, August 20. India won by three wickets. Sri Lanka: S. Jayasuriya lbw b Zaheer 13; K. Sangakkara b Zaheer 2; M. Jayawardene c Yuvraj b Zaheer 2; C. Kapugedera c Dhoni b Zaheer 0; C. Silva c Kohli b Kumar 0; T. Dilshan c Badrinath b Pathan 16; N. Kulasekara c Badrinath b Kumar 25; T. Thushara c Kohli b Kumar 44; A. Mendis c & b Harbhajan 0; D. Fernando c Kohli b Harbhajan 12; M. Muralitharan (not out) 11; Extras (lb-6, w-11) 17. Total: 142.

Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-10, 3-10, 4-11, 5-33, 6-44, 7-118, 8-118, 9-122.

Sri Lanka bowling: Kumar 10-2-34-3; Zaheer 9.5-3-21-4; Munaf 6-1-24-0; Pathan 5-0-21-1; Harbhajan 5.4-0-26-2; Yuvraj 2-0-10-0.

India: I. Pathan c Sangakkara b Kulasekara 5; V. Kohli c Kapugedera b Thushara 37; S. Raina lbw b Kulasekara 1; Yuvraj lbw b Mendis 20; M. Dhoni b Fernando 39; R. Sharma lbw b Thushara 0; S. Badrinath (not out) 27; Harbhajan lbw b Mendis 1; Zaheer (not out) 2; Extras (b-3, lb-4, w-2, nb-2) 11. Total (for seven wkts., in 39.4 overs) 143.

Fall of wickets: 1-8, 2-16, 3-52, 4-75, 5-75, 6-135, 7-139.

Sri Lanka bowling: Kulasekara 9-2-26-2; Thushara 7-1-32-2; Mendis 10-1-22-2; Fernando 5-0-25-1; Muralitharan 8.4-0-31-0.

* * *

First ODI, Dambulla, August 18. Sri Lanka won by eight wickets.

India: G. Gambhir b Vaas 0; V. Kohli lbw b Kulasekara 12; S. Raina c Silva b Kulasekara 17; Yuvraj b Mendis 23; R. Sharma c Jayawardene b Thushara 19; M. Dhoni c Jayawardene b Mendis 6; I. Pathan lbw b Muralitharan 7; Harbhajan c Sangakkara b Muralitharan 12; Zaheer c Thushara b Muralitharan 12; P. Ojha (not out) 16; M. Patel b Mendis 15; Extras (b-2, lb-2, w-3) 7. Total: 146.

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-23, 3-36, 4-73, 5-75, 6-87, 7-87, 8-107, 9-117.

Sri Lanka bowling: Vaas 9-0-34-1; Kulasekara 7-0-23-2; Thushara 6-0-18-1; Mendis 9-4-21-3; Muralitharan 10-2-37-3; Jayasuriya 5-1-9-0. Sri Lanka: S. Jayasuriya c Pathan b Munaf 10; K. Sangakkara c & b Munaf 19; M. Jayawardene (not out) 61; C. Kapugedera (not out) 45; Extras (b-4, lb-3, w-5) 12. Total (for two wkts., in 34.5 overs) 147.

Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-45.

India bowling: Munaf 9-0-32-2; Zaheer 7-1- 24-0; Pathan 7-0-35-0; Harbhajan 4-0-18-0; Ojha 3-0-9-0; R. Sharma 2.5-0-11-0; Raina 2-0- 11-0.