|
Tue, 19th Aug 2008  Dambulla: So much for pre-match hype and the rhetoric that went with it, like an emphatic exclamation mark that was to have signalled Indian success at the start of this ODI series.
It was left as to sag as does a slowly deflating hot air balloon, punctured as it was with the dismissal of Gautam Gambhir the second ball of the match. Sri Lanka's control was not relinquished throughout the following 80.5 overs of the game.
As rain clouds gathered in the south-east, Sri Lanka closed in on an efficient and clinical eight-wicket victory to mark the start of their latest ODI series against India at Rangiri Stadium. It left yet again more than enough questions for India's young, and to a point inexperienced guns, outplayed again in a second successive limited-overs game.
Both teams went in with a six-five combination, but now India may revise their thinking after this defeat.
Sri Lanka, as they largely did through much of the Test series, were highly professional. Also, the discipline shown by their bowlers, which continues to confront and confuse the Indian batsmen, is quite remarkable in its direction and pressure.
Also, Mahela Jayawardene batted with typical style and panache for an undefeated 61 as he and Chamara Kapugedera became involved in an unbroken match-winning partnership of 102 for the third wicket. Jayawardene was unhurried as he batted his way through the 116 minutes. It is not the matter of balls faced or minutes batted that matters here, but the way he put the innings together that always left him largely in control of the situation.
Sri Lanka reached the 147 needed for victory of 34.5 overs in reply to the tourists 146 in 46 overs of often hesitant batting.
Yet, as with the Tests, where man of the series Ajantha Mendis along with Muttiah Muralitharan dominated with 47 wickets out of 60, so too did they pull the same mesmerising puppet strings with three wickets apiece in this opening game. Mendis, with three for 21 off nine overs won man of the match and is becoming quite a concern for India.
While Sri Lanka lost their openers early on, the pitch, as Jayawardene and Kapugedera showed, was easy enough to bat on. The captain square cut with precision and drove with elegant ease. He did much to pull Kapugedara through whatever concerns the younger man may have had in trying to bat through the rest of the partnership.
It is where Jayawardene's calmness saw him score without too many problems and shows that a little more application and skill from India's batsmen would have at least put a competitive total on the board.
Instead, and in what can only be described as an abject batting performance, India were routed for their lowest ODI total in Sri Lanka. It wouldn't have been a pretty sight to watch either for the Indian selectors as the five-match series opened with a humiliating defeat.
From the second ball of the game when Gambhir was bowled by veteran Chaminda Vaas, the innings continually tottered on the brink of a collapse against tidy, accurate bowling.
Even the final total of 146 owes its longevity of 46 overs to a last wicket partnership of 29 between Munaf Patel and Pragyan Ojha.
Sure, India went into the game without the experience of Virender Sehwag, ruled out Sunday night after an examination of his swollen ankle, hit by a ball during a practice session. But this didn't suggest that India would continue to struggle against the spin of Mendis and Muralitharan well supported by the frontline seam bowlers.
Yuvraj Singh, arriving as early as the eighth over of the innings with only 23 runs on the board, showed a spark of promise when he hoisted Mendis over long on for six. The next delivery, found him stretching too far forward, the bat angled from the body, as he edged the ball into the stumps: beaten by the pace of the delivery off the pitch.
Whatever plans he had to rescue the innings partly went with him for when Mendis was brought on at the scoreboard end the score was 67-3; it then subsided in the Mendis quicksand as 73-3 became 87-7 and whatever hopes of a rescue bid floundered.
There wasn't much to follow either as a succession of frustrated strokes and edges may have added runs to the total, but it became an agonising effort as without partnerships and continued pressure, building any sort of total needed failed to materialise.
India's previous lowest total at the Dambulla venue is 205-9 in 2005, but at least it was competitive while their lowest on the island before this effort had been 163 in 1998 at the Sinhalese Sports Club.
Jayawardene's handling of the bowling was what added to India's problems as he didn't bring Mendis into the attack until the 20th over and Murali six overs later. Mendis picked up three for 21 more while Murlai's 10 overs earned him a return of three for 37.  | 
