Indian Series Victory - Going for the Kill: A Skill yet to be Acquired

When Ajantha Mendis was run out, the Sri Lankan commentator, Ranjeet Fernando, in yet another inane statement, stated that India were seeing hope again. But why did India have to see hope when the ninth Sri Lankan wicket fell with the hosts needing more fifty runs to keep the series alive? They should have sealed the deal a long time ago. India may have won their first bilateral one day series in Sri Lanka but yet again, Sri Lanka were allowed to crawl back from the near bottom and nearly cause an upset.

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Malinda Warnpurna could not make an impact. Kumar Sangakkara is going through a blip. Perhaps the only ray of sunshine that filtered through the dusk were those of Sanath Jayasuriya finally showing signs of life. His sixty, for a change, gave Sri Lanka more hope than they have had in the series with regards to the top order. Mahela Jayawardene found himself once more in a position that has become rather familiar with him on this tour of the Indians, trying to salvage the Sri Lankans. But even he would not last too long and before any one knew, Sri Lanka were creating another whirlpool of wickets from which salvation seemed impossible.

This Indian side is beginning to look more like the team of the future. But if there is one thing they should not be learning from their predecessors is of letting the opposition off the hook. In a bizarre tactic from an otherwise sharp and shrewd Mahendra Singh Dhoni, non regular bowlers were allowed a look in when really with Sri Lanka really had no momentum losing wickets at regular intervals.

By the time the Indian skipper brought back his main strikers, Thushara, not content with his bowling figures of five wickets for the day, went about in smashing vein and got the Indians ruffled. Suddenly a quiet run through the motions turned frantic. India’s breakthrough came by way of a careless mistake of Mendis to be watching the ball instead of trusting his partner and running through to the other end. It gave India a breather and the end then seemed visible again.

This was not the most convincing of series victories. But India have held their nerve on the important moments and managed to turn small breaks into bigger margins which the Sri Lanka never enough got hold off. India though would not mind this consolation prize.

For the Indians batting flair in the first innings of this fascinating match, read:

Half Time Story: Young Guns Doing It Right; Yuvraj Needs to Take the Cue