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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Sri Lanka vs Australia ODI match Melbourne 22 February, 2008 - A Fun Report

Other possible headlines
- Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to field!
- Except Australia no one builds Duckworth Lewis method into their strategy
- Sri Lankan and Bangaldeshi bowlers have the ability to bring their opposition down on their knees

Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to field! Well As predicted earlier, Sri Lanka if they field first against Australia has 0-5% chance to win, whereas batting first they can still have double the chance of winning, still they took this decision. Further going by predictions of rain which can stop a match midway and excepting Australia no one builds Duckworth Lewis method into their strategy while batting second - or maybe this prompted Sri Lanka to bat second?

This doesn’t mean that I am questioning Sri Lankan bowlers’ abilty to bring the opposition down on their knees. That is something atypical of Sri Lanka and Bangladesh bowling. However, Sri Lankan batting has not been able to back their bowlers recently. Well they got Australia down to 4/44 in a flash. Clarke and Hussey finally offered some resistance and restored the innings through a (almost) century partnership of 90. Finally Muralitharan broke his stale run in this series and took 2 wickets and Aussies could finish the day at 184. This looked like Sri Lanka’s day and it seemed that they were about to bely my predictions in this blog. However, I had enough trust in my calculations of the Sri Lankan batting to know that they can make a mountain out of a mole hill. Well, it is to the credit of the Australian bowlers that they’ve made average scores look ungettable. Clarke and Bracken bowled superbly and Sri Lanka never kept track of the D/L method to know where they should be in case rain comes. Well rain came!

Anyway, to the credit of Aussies the result was a fair one as Sri Lanka never seemed to be in sight of the target.

(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 Adelaide 19 February, 2008 - A Fun Report

Other possible headlines
- Series continues to be dominated by Wicketkeeper Batsmen
- India batted like only India could - getting 3 men out before 50
- Amazing Dhoni doesn’t touch the boundary on his way to 50
- Yuvraj exposed. He likes to hit six of the very next fall after hitting a six.

Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat. However, Munaf justified his inclusion by starting with a scintillating spell during which he bowled 2 maidens and took the wicket of Dilshan Tillekratne. Then Jayasuriya ran himself out and Sri Lanka looked to be in deep trouble. However, Sangakkara and Jayawardene dug themselves a solid partnership. The 153 run partnership brought Sri Lanka into the game and also rendered all Indian bowlers ineffective. However 2 more runouts followed and India could restrict Sri Lanka thereafter with the usual Sangakkara standing tall amongst ruins. Well seems like this series is dominated by Wicketkeeper Batsmen (Is this a cue for Dinesh Karthick?). For Sri Lanka Kapugedera and Chamara Silva have been huge failures, and even Maharoof has not come through as a batsman. This leaves Sangakkara alone to do the drudge work sometimes helped by one batsman from either Jayawardene or Dilshan occasionally. Well the story is that even with quite average bowling (in this match), India could restrict Sri Lanka to 237 and that speaks volumes about the state of Sri Lankan batting.

India started like India could - getting 3 men out before 50 and getting into trouble right away - well this seems to be a pretty familiar plot now! And then launching a rescue mission with slow batting and then blazing to save the match during the slog overs! This story can become unstuck any day now - it is to good to be true. Well Yuvraj came and this time he got to a great start and blazed away to his 50. Till, he was presented with an opportunity to hit a six. Well, this also has a familiar ring (remember the last match he tried this off Hogg). He tried the same stuff on the very next ball by Vaas and well the ball didn’t connect and his wickets cartwheeled all over. The most amazing stuff however came from MS Dhoni. I am not sure, but probably this is the first 50 I have seen from any batsman that came without a boundary. And that coming from someone who is known to top 100 in strike rate more often than not! Well with Irfan luckily available down the order he could rely on him to accompany him for the most part of face saving campaign. And India could scrape through with 2 wickets to spare.

(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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