Sri Lanka vs Australia ODI match Melbourne 29 February, 2008 - A Fun Report

Other possible headlines
- Hayden snubbed. Dropped.
- Will this be the last innings by Jayasuriya abroad? or maybe the last ever?
- Without, Chaminda Vaas, the attack looked impotent (initially).
- Gilly was on fire.
- Ponting just refused to score. He took 11 balls to score 1!!
- the victory was brought by Kulasekara and Amerasinghe, two rookie bowlers

Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to bat! Not surprising, but last week at the same venue they had chosen to bowl first and predictably lost. As predicted here, the only semblance of a chance at Sri Lanka beating Australia lay in batting first. Surprisingly Vaas and Hayden were dropped. Hayden apparently may have been snubbed since a lot of people felt he was let off too lightly. And Cricket Australia had indicated that the Aussie cricketers had double standards.

Well, Perera in his new role started slowly. With Lee and Bracken bowling as well as ever, Sri Lanka was very cautious. However, they started losing wickets soon. Jayasuriya nowadays plays small cameos and did another such one. Will this be the last innings by Jayasuriya? Maybe the last one abroad?

For once Sangkarra magic did not work and Sri Lanka were down at 4/61. Here Jayawardene was joined by comparably successful Dilshan Tillekaratne and they enabled Sri Lanka to get to a respectable total. Sri Lanka juiced every ounce of their batting. I mean they were bowled out on the last ball scoring 221 which didn’t seem a big score to defend.

Without, Chaminda Vaas, the attack looked impotent. Australia began on a very positive note, and in no time had 100 on board without any loss of wickets. Gilly was on fire. It was just too good too be true. All bets were now on Australia winning easily. It looked too easy and the party had already began. Just a trifle too early. Newbie Kulasekara came for his second spell to join Muralitharan. And Hopes fell. And Ponting just refused to score. He took 11 balls to score 1!! A team which was right on top scored 1 run in 4 overs!! Australia were suddenly choking on themselves. From 107/0 they went to 123/6 and Sri Lanka could sense an impossible victory. And most importantly this victory was brought by Kulasekara and Amerasinghe, two rookie bowlers. A potent signal that the time for change of gaurd has come for Sri Lanka. A late rearguard action by Brett Lee and Bracken brought Australia over 200, but then in a stroke of genius Jayasuriya was introduced with Australia just 13 runs away. Well, Jayasuriya just need the minimum, one ball, to seal the victory!

(the above are written in a funny mood and not intended to hurt your sentiment - i doubt if any actual players gets time to read - so please don’t (get) hurt yourself defending them)

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India vs Sri Lanka ODI match at Hobart 26 February, 2008 - A Fun Report

Other possible headlines
- Sri Lanka dig the most beautiful hole with the help of a debutant Praveen
- Tendulkar fires in time for the final showdown with Aussies
- Gambhir did what he seems to have mastered - the art of grafting runs
- Jayasuriya should file for retirement before life takes over

India won the toss and elected to bowl? Well like an honourable Rajput, India likes to make the field even before the fight and the only way Sri Lanka could stand even in statistical probability is when they bat first. Well so we started out in the match at an even level. I mean India threw away the sword!

We Sri Lanka caught on after an initial hiccup (Perera) and were on their way. Then Praveen Kumar was called to bowl. He had had a dismal show in the series and was keen to prove (people who follow domestic cricket in India knew that he’s a very talented all rounder and must be keen to see him being fielded). Jayasuriya and Sangakkara had belted the opening bowlers out of attack and were looking hungrily at the newly christined bowler. Perched merrily at 1/72 Sri Lanka seemed all set to take the bull by his horns. However, Praveen Kumar got 3 wickets in a snap and Sri Lanka were down to 4/81 in a flash. Ishant Sharma and Pathan could smell blood and moved in for the kill and suddenly Sri Lanka were 7/93 and it looked that they had been struggling all day. With the not successful batsman Kapugedera left, things looked doomed for them. But Kapugedera straightened out the creases with the help of Malinga and Muralitharan and got Sri Lanka to finish at 179. Munaf was the only bowler who looked off color.

Well India didn’t have much work left and we saw Utthapa being promoted to open the innings. Well though he didn’t last long, he and Tendulkar set the tone that India were not interested in a long haul this time. And India blasted away at around 6 RPO with Sachin back to his self striking 10 fours in his 63, and Gambhir doing what he seems to have mastered - the art of grafting runs. Finally, when Sachin fell, India was almost there. Now Yuvraj came in for a small cameo, and by the time he left it was near the finish line. Excepting maybe Vaas no other Sri Lankan bowler has looked good in this series.

With this Sri Lanka have the joy of a free mind and they can try out their new comers in the next match. I suggest Jayasuriya should file for retirement before life takes over. I am a big fan of his and would not like to see him go ungraciously. He has done a lot for his country!

With Praveen Kumar joining the melee, it’s now a riot as far as team India is concerned as now the fast bowlers read like this: Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel, RP Singh, Sreesanth, Praveen Kumar, VRV Singh and the backup from Joginder Sharma, Ajit Agarkar, Pankaj Singh, Balaji, and maybe I forgot one or two already. And these are not ones who shone and went, all are performing and ready to field. And that’s the way instant cricket is - a strong bench is required to constantly field teams.

(the above are written in a funny mood and not intended to hurt your sentiment - i doubt if any actual players gets time to read - so please don’t (get) hurt yourself defending them)

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India vs Australia ODI match Sydney 24 February, 2008 - A Fun Report

Other possible headlines
- Symonds continuing swimming in the horrible sledge soup
- Indians are turning out to be more emotional than intelligent
- Gambhir also got infected by Yuvraj’s 6 0n 6 disease

Australia were once again lucky with the Toss and got to bat first. They’ve been too lucky with this stuff. Sreesanth got smashed right away. Gilchrist started enjoying this so much that he wanted a 150+ strike rate for the team and got out early. But that set the tone of what was to follow. Aussies smashed all bowlers everywhere till the ball began to hurt. Hayden assembled his 50, while Ponting blazed his first century, nay the first worthwhile innings in a long time. By the time the Party was called off almost everyone had enjoyed a few hits. But Symonds continuing swimming in the horrible sledge soup, was shown the way to the pavillion by Ishant. Well, Indians are turning out to be more emotional than intelligent. Instead of reporting to the umpires they end up on the wrong side of the umpires. This has happened so many times that you really suspect their intelligence.

The Indian chase again had a false start losing 4/51. Well you know the time before familiar faces of Gautam Gambhir, MS Dhoni and Uthappa came up. Well like I said last time this act was just engineered for failure - it had to give away someday. This time they were too slow during the middle overs to have any semblance of a chance of recovering to win. And in they end they got tantalizingly close enough and are sure to have regrets about the way they handled the middle overs. Gautam Gambhir also got infected by Yuvraj’s 6 0n 6 disease. Somehow, it seems to me that Gambhir loses concentration whenever he’s crossed 100. So just after 100 him a chance to ht a 6 and watch him go berserk. Well the tail stuck up magnificently but the target was too much and too fast for a tail. Harbhajan and Pathan did strike nce cameos to remind Uthappa that he can trust the tail enders more (and it is required since he is presently destined to bat with tailenders more often than any other Indian batsmen).

(the above are written in a funny mood and not intended to hurt your sentiment - i doubt if any actual players gets time to read - so please don’t (get) hurt yourself defending them)

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