Losing the key battles

There was always going to be some key battles in this series.

Dilshan/Sanath v Ghambir/Sehwag/Tendulkar

Ojha v Murali/Mendis

Kulesekara/Mirando v Ishant/Zaheer

Mahela v Dhoni

India won all 4 of those mini battles. So 3-0 up isnt really a surprise.

Opening with the number 3

Dilshan and Sanath are a good combination as openers in ODIs, both are aggressive and go for their shorts, but both have lacked the ability see off Ishant and Zaheer.

In 3 matches the highest opening partnership has been 15. India fared no better.

But the impact for SL is greater because so much depends on Sanath and Dilshan to get SL off to a good start. When they dont it has a huge knock on effect to the rest of the batting order.

Apart from Sanaths 100 in the first match, the two have scored a combined 56 runs in the 3 games.

Ojha v M&M

No one could have picked the battle between Murali/Mendis and Ojha going in favor of the left armer from India.

His 6 wickets is the 2nd highest bag in the the series. They werent cheap wickets either. Sangakkara (twice), Mahela (once) and Kapu (once) fell to Ojhas deceit.

With Harbajan to come into the team the Indian bowling line up solid.

Ace of Pace

The top 4 wicket takers are all Indians, so it comes as no surprise that SL were always on the back foot.

Ishant Sharma has bowled like an un indian fast bowler. He doesnt rely on swing. Bounce and seam movement are his weapons of choice. His length and sense of direction has been on target and the SL batsmen suffered from it.

Together with Zaheer they form a contrasting pair, one offers swing and the other bounce and pace.

The little player that could, Nuwan Kulesekara and Mirando could not match up to their class.

Maharoof had the most wickets for SL and the best average at 47.

Middle order shenannigans

The middle order for SL contributed 392 runs (Sanga 131, Kandamby 120,Mahela 93, Kapu 48)

India whopped in 516 (Yuvraj 206, Dhoni 119, Gambir 99, Raina 92).

The difference told in the end.

The final nail in the coffin was the attitude of both teams plus the captaincy.

Dhoni wants to win every game, even if it means he needs to get ugly with his players.

And no matter what Mahela tells us, he still lets the game drift. One example is the 2nd ODI when India were 180-5. With two new batsmen in, Mahela allowed easy singles.

India dint need a second invitation and clawed back in with a good partnership and ended up with a winning total.

The fielding also has been poor.

From the highs of Pakistan to the lows in Colombo, SL have entered into that dangerous corridor of inconsistency.

A place that is annoyingly home to them.

2 Comments

  1. after i read your post i thought the title of post should have been ‘loosing all battles…’ 😉

    February 5, 2009
    Reply
  2. damiths said:

    SP> You cheeky bugger !

    February 7, 2009
    Reply

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