Blogs Encore Rahul and Sourav
July 20th, 2008 by googlyprabhakarThe last time India went to Sri Lanka, it pulled off a remarkable win against all odds, thanks to the efforts of Rahul Dravid ( as usual) and Sourav Ganguly in Kandy. Remember India went to Srilanka after the monumental 2001 series against Australia. Moreover both VVS Laxman and Sachin Tendulkar were not touring because of injuries. It was in this background that they pulled out a fascinating win. Rahul scored a 70 odd , while Ganguly narrowly missed his century, remaining not out in his 90s, against a rampaging Murali on a wearing fifth day wicket. Can we expect the same kind of heroics from the duo this time around? Let us wait and watch. The key to tackling both Murali and Mendis, though lies with Laxman. He is the one who will be the most comfortable against these two ( the others are too, but unfortunately cannot dominate them) , since he would be mostly playing them of the front foot because of his height advantage. The others will be relying on reading these two from the pitch and would be literally always on the back foot. India’s success or failure in this series therefore depends a lot on the Hyderabadi stylist.
July 21st, 2008 at 3:13 am
Forgot to mention. Last time around when India played Srilanka in a Test Series ( it was at home) , the highest scorer ( or at least one of the highest scorers, in fact it also happened in the subsequent series when played Pakistan in Pakistan too!!!!!) if my memory serves me right was Irfan Pathan!!!!! This time around its a pity that he is not playing this time around.
July 22nd, 2008 at 4:28 am
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July 22nd, 2008 at 11:35 pm
googlyprabhakar, just like they did in Australia, I would love to see the BIG 4 in Indian Cricket give a solid performance in this tour as well. I know you are not a big fan of Sachin, but personally it would give me immense pleasure if he performs as well as he did down-under
The first test has started with a rain/wet-conditions delay, but hopefully things would heat up as the series proceeds.
July 23rd, 2008 at 1:55 pm
Its not that I am not a big fan of Sachin. I am his fan of course. The ball won’t be coming on to the bat as in Australia here. That way he can’t bat with the same kind of freedom as he did in Australia. Moreover the Srilankan spin attack is far superior to what India faced in Australia. Even if Sachin were to succeed, it would be only through grafting. Crafty Murali will try and drag him outside the offstump by pitching it wide and spinning it in. The equally crafty Sachin will be playing the ‘wait and watch game’. Mark my words, he will be playing Murali most of the times from the back foot. In these conditions, if at all someone can attack Murali, it has to be ( and mostly will be) Laxman, who by virtue of being the tallest of the Indian batsmen, can play similar length deliveries on the front foot, which others would be playing on the backfoot. You just need to go back to the test in which Sachin got his 35th century. It was a painfully slow innings. Remember, at the other end Laxman , who also got a hundred, made it look ridiculously easy. It was primarily because of his height.
July 23rd, 2008 at 2:02 pm
Moreover there is a big factor that a lot of us forget, the weather. Remember Srilanka is a very very humid country. The energy sapping conditions need someone fit like a M.S.Dhoni. Only those who are physically very very fit can succeed here. If one were to take this into account among the big 4 only Rahul Dravid has ‘greater’ chances of succeeding. This factor has often been a Achilles heal with the Indian team whenever they visit Srilanka and one of the reasons why India has traditionally not done well against its southern neighbor.
July 25th, 2008 at 7:29 am
Wow saw that. It exactly happened as I had thought and written it would. Sachin was again trying to read and play Murali of the wicket and that is the reason he was hesitant to play him on the front foot. The wily Murali repeatedly tossed up the ball in order to invite him to the front foot. Sachin, to his credit resisted the temptation. The ball which bowled him sums up what I was talking about. Sachin wanted to go on the front foot( he is an instinctive front foot player) but one part of his brain wanted him to play on the backfoot. Finally he ended up playing nowhere. Sachin used to play Murali of the front foot in the 1990s when Murali was not bowling the doosra as much. This is what I was saying. If at all someone has to ‘dominate’ the wily Murali, it has to be a tall player like VVS who can nullify or kill the spin by stretching forward ( Aussies like Mathew Hayden , Adam Gilchrist are other examples, they just stretch as far down as possible. If the ball is on the middle of leg, they sweep and if it is on the off they defend) or someone with ‘twinkling feet’, case in example, Brian Lara, who shred Murali into pieces. It is because , although not tall, he was able to reach to the pitch of the ball that much more quickly.
The second factor ‘weather’ which I was talking about also came into play. Most of the Indian batsmen were tired and it was visible when they were fielding. Remember a lot of catches went down, not because they lack fielding skills, but because it is difficult to concentrate in such weather. Best case in example , Dinesh Karthik. Poor guy was really tired and it showed in his keeping. This is where
a M.S.Dhoni scores. Since he is supremely fit, he can keep his concentration going for hours together.
July 25th, 2008 at 9:53 pm
Excellent analysis googlyprabhakar……So tell us what happens next??
July 26th, 2008 at 12:01 am
Saw that. It was VVS again among the big 4 who was the most comfortable facing Murali and Mendis. It only reiterates the same thing. If at all India has to win the series , someone has to dominate their spinners and if it is not VVS , no one can, at least on a consistent basis. It is not that the others are not talented, but they have got too many things going on inside their heads.
July 26th, 2008 at 5:19 am
Sorry I forgot to mention about what happens next. This almost anyone who watches cricket can predict. Sachin is sure to fall early in the second innings!!!!! However great his achievements may be, this will continue to be a big hole in his CV, until l and unless he rectifies it during this late stage of his career. It is rather ironical that his first ( in England) and second ( at Perth) test centuries came in the second innings. Then there was a big lull and we had to wait for a good four/five years before he scored one again, on a dead track against New Zealand. Incidentally this was his first test double hundred and the match had come under the match fixing scanner, because the captain and coach ( Kapil) did not declare, even after gaining a substantial lead. The next one came in 1998 against Australia in Chennai when he scored 155, which could be his best test innings till date. The other one followed a year later against Pakistan , again in Chennai, 130 odd. After that it has been ten years since he has scored anything of significance in the second innings.
Not that he does it on purpose. He must one of the greatest ‘team players’ around, but sadly this is one big gapping hole in his CV, which he needs to rectify soon since time is fast running out. In fact one of the very reasons that he still playing could be because of it.
July 26th, 2008 at 5:19 am
and as predicted he has fallen early!!!!!