Sri Lankan cricket team will return today from India after what has been a long, tough tour. Sri Lanka started their first test match against India on November 16th and finished their final match on 27th December. India won the test series 2-0.
This was the fourth time in the last four years that India had won two matches in a row; two of those braces came against Sri Lanka. This is not the exception in India.Last 27 years Sri Lanka did not win a single game against India. But in 1982/83(only one match has been played) and 1997-1998 series in India has been recorded as drawn series.
This time Sri Lanka went to India ranked as number two in ICC test rankings, with the hope of winning at least a single test match. But unfortunately poor bowling performance as well as lack of consistency on batsmen let the team down. In the top of bowling department Rangana Herath picked up only 11 wickets (49 runes per one wicket) while Murali claimed nine wickets (66 runs for one wicket). Uda Walawwe Mahim Bandaralage Chanaka Asanga Welegedara, Left-arm fast-medium bowler picked six wickets with the average of 66 runs per one wicket.
So we can understand the poor performance of the bowlers. But from India Harbajan Singh claimed 13 wickets (41 runs per one pieces) while Zaheer khan picked up 10 wickets (36.5 per one wicket).
In batting Sehwag, Dravid , Dhoni averaged more than 100 in series while Gambir,Vijay(only one match),Tendulkar , Laxman and Yuvraj Singh average more than 50.But for Sri Lanka only Mahela and Preasanna Jayawardena averaged 75 each while other players averaged below 50 One can clearly understand the performance on two teams by merely looking at this picture.
Only Dilshan scored two centuries in the series for Sri Lanka, while Sehwag, Dravid ,Dhoni and Gambir scored two centuries each for India. This will reflect the consistency of the batting. And also we have to discuss the umpires' referral system which had not been in place for the series.
Because of that Sri Lankans suffered more than Indian. Even some commentators argued that Sri Lanka was at the receiving end of many an umpiring howler during the Test series against India and asked the ICC to make ‘Decision Review System’ (DRS) mandatory for all games But Sri Lanka should understand their weaknesses in Test and it is better for selectors looking for strong line up of fast bowlers again. It was there in with the calibre of bowlers like Chaminda Vass. The form of Murali also can be considered as part of a problem. But SLC should not depend on one bowler in a tough series of this nature.
Twenty- twenty series has been drawn and Sangakakra batted well despite lack of support from the other end. Bowling again was the problem for Sri Lankans. Apart form Jayasooriya other bowlers conceded more than 08 runs for an over. But I think Sri Lanka did reasonably well in their T20.
Every one expected Sri Lanka to come out and win the ODI series. The way they chase more than 400 runs proved the calibre of our batting as well as the ability of taking challenges. But again the poor bowling as well as the consistency of batting cost us the series with the final result 3-1.Angelo Mathews, Dilshan, Sangakkara and Tharanga did well in the series with the batting of all-rounder Thisara perera. But Mahela, Kapugedara, Samaraweera and Jayasooruya failed in batting. But for India Dhoni,Tendulkar ,Gambir ,Koli and Shewag scored averaging more than 50 in ODI series. In bowling the new comer Suraj Randiv did well taking 5 wickets with the average of 5 runs per over in high scoring series, with Welagedara (also 5 wickets with 5.59 per over). Kulasekera and Lasith Malinga failed with the bowl. For India Zahher Khan and Nehera picked up 7 and 6 wickets respectively, while Harbajan Singh picked up 6 wickets with the economy rate of 4.88 per over.
The injuries of Murali, Dilhara as well as Angelo in latter part can also be considered as big blow for the Sri Lankan team. A dangerous pitch led to the abandonment of Sunday's fifth and final limited-overs international between India and Sri Lanka after protests from the touring team's captain Kumar Sangakkara.
This is the second time that India-Sri Lanka one-dayer has been abandoned due to a dangerous pitch.
In 1997, a limited-overs international in the central Indian city of Indore was stopped after just three overs .
But at that time we were already down in the series. I think it is better to rethink and reengineer the one day side if we want to win the world cup of 2011.One cannot expect bigger achievement in international arena with this combination. Changing players again and again will not give you desired positive impact. We have only one year to prepare for the world cup. We have to take the Indian tour as a lesson and even we can learn a lot from the players like Dhoni, Tendulkar, Sehwag and ,Gambir about the consistency in batting in both forms of ODI and Test. In bowling also Zaheer Khan excelled in both forms.
For Sri Lanka we need match winners (not match winner).Preparation is the best solution .we are playing the world cup next time in this region, Sri Lanka should consider this(the tour to India) as an eye opener as well as exercise and should prepare their team accordingly. There should be few changes. Especially for the one day side .I think the T20 team signals some changes to 50 over version as well. And finally we have to understand performance of the team is more important than personal performance.
- Asian Tribune -
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