There are those who point to Karthik’s record at domestic level as a reason why he should be opening the batting in an emergency. But emergency in Karthik’s case is like having an ambulance on permanent standby and paramedics waiting with a drip to revive a patient. It is why the number one ranking, and greeted with so much fanfare here at Premadasa Stadium on Friday night, was so full of flat notes twenty-four hours later when it was relinquished in B flat minor.

This is when India were eventually dismissed for 168, losing by 140 runs in the 38th over, to Sri Lanka in the last of the league round in the Compaq Cup, the end delayed by a jolly partnership of 29 between RP Singh and Ishant Sharma. And when you decide to take the batting power play when the last pair are together explains, in a sense how bad India were in their strategy this game.

Unfortunately, at a time when India needed Karthik to display what he can do, he failed yet again. He essayed a careless shot at Thushara Mirando and gloved a leg-side catch to Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara. Instead of patience, he showed the typical callowness for which Karthik’s batting strategies have become noted. Careless, crass and like the selectors who continually put him in the side, bereft of ideas and skills in executing anything worthwhile.

Surely India have better than this to fill in for the injured Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag. It shows just how badly India are placed for reliable top-order men. With the Champions Trophy looming, to send such as Karthik to South Africa and to face fast bowling on the bouncier surface explains how the selection mafia are going to be caught short yet again.

As it is, India, left to chase down a target of 308 at 6.16 runs an over were soon left struggling and on a respiratory system. By the middle of the 20th over of the innings, the top-order had been blown away through a succession of appalling strokeplay as well as clever seam bowling with lateral movement and angled deliveries by the Sri Lankan bowlers. This left them at 108 for four and looking for a miracle to score the remaining 200 in 29 overs at a rate, which had climbed to almost 6.90 an over, and was always going to be elusive with a vulnerable lower order.

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Rahul Dravid did what he could to effect a revival from the ruins of the top-order collapse but with only Mahendra Singh Dhoni left, India were always chasing shadows. And when Dravid misjudged the angle of a Angelo Mathews delivery as he went for an off-drive, it was really a question of time. With The Wall gone, capitulation was not far behind, as well as the loss of the top ranking. All this followed as the tradition of losing the toss and losing the game returned.

It enabled Mathews to capitalise on the indifferent strokeplay and with four of his six wickets in a career best return of six for 20, coming from deliveries that bowled batsmen it explained the lottery of a mindset along with the conditions as well as batting under lights at Premadasa Stadium.

Why, for example, young Virat Kholi was not given a chance in what is a ‘dead’ game, after India’s efficient, rather than clinical win over an under-powered New Zealand side, the decision to play the same side suggested a certain one dimensional thinking in certain policy areas.

As it is Sri Lanka owe their imposing total of 307 to some woeful Indian bowling and lethargic fielding which, after Dhoni lost the toss for the second game in a row, brought them back to terra firma with a hefty enough bump.

An attacking innings of 98 by Sanath Jayasuriya, adjudged lbw to an Ashish Nehra delivery, and a brave decision by his former teammate Kumar Dharmasena turned international umpire, when the left-hander was so close to what would have been a 29th ODI century, partly underwrote the total. The rest was a matter of a rare innings into the realms of fantasy by Thilina Kandamby, whose innings of 91 was a technically good as you will find from a batsman who has promised much but whose ODI average barely scrapes into the lower 30s. It is only his fourth half-century in 18 games.

Maybe if he gets rid of some of his body bulk he might get more runs on the board and a lot more chances to show why others rate him so highly. It was after the plundering of Jayasuriya of a bowling performance that was a shadow of that seen against New Zealand. The zip, zest and pizzazz seen against the Kiwis had taken the day off and left you with a decidedly flat feeling.

There is a day’s gap before Monday’s final and whether or not India decide to practise under lights tonight, a lot of thinking will need to go into planning for the final of the series if they are to recover some momentum from this lamentable defeat.