Magician Muralitharan casts spell on jittery India
Posted on Jul 25, 2008 at 10:07 | Updated Jul 26, 2008 at 07:47
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Colombo: It has been almost seven years since Muttiah Muralitharan's eight first innings wickets left India's batting efforts against Sri Lanka wracked with self-doubt at the Sinhalese Sports Club.
Memories of those agonising 2001 efforts then drew an Indian media comment that as they were without Sachin Tendulkar, whose tennis elbow style injury had forced his withdrawal from the side, it might have been a little different had the little Mumbai Maestro been available.
It may be only day three of this Idea Cup Test series, but already Murali has the Tendulkar notch in his belt with a delivery that had the batsman in two minds of playing forward or back. The result was Tendulkar being bowled with a well-flighted doosra he surprisingly failed to read.
As Murali had already dismissed opener Gautam Gambhir, Sourav Ganguly and Dinesh Karthik, through a mixture of clever variation and totally inept strokeplay, he was halfway to repeating his performance of 2001.
His four of 38 in 15 overs stretches his wicket-haul to 739 at 21.88. It was magical stuff on a pitch where India's experienced duo of Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh struggled to penetrate the Sri Lankan batting on what had been suggested is a flat surface.
Forget the so-called magic and wizardry: the secret is that the two Sri Lankan spinners exploited the conditions and the fissures which have grown after a day of hot, sunny weather.
Yet as India's coach Gary Kirsten agreed, four of the batsmen had let the side and themselves down. It wasn't clever batting to throw wickets away, the way they did.
By the close, and a total of 159-6 and the follow-on total of 401 is a long way off – 242 runs in fact – the Murali factor had asserted itself again.
Just how much he owed to bowling in tandem with debutant Ajantha Mendis is a question for debate. But you can guarantee that with the Indians still trying to figure out Mendis, the pressure was pretty intense in humid conditions.
The two spinners bowled unchanged for 33 of the 45 overs and that made the difference with both picking up a wicket each by bowling two of the best batsmen in the Indian side: Mendis first accounting for Rahul Dravid and Murali for Tendulkar.
Chasing Sri Lanka's a first innings total of 600-6 declared is a big enough ant heap to climb; only they have already managed to turn it into a mountain to climb and chances are the follow-on will come before lunch on day four. Unless of course, VVS Laxman can find a partner to stick around and support his elegant strokeplay.
This of course will need a lot of seriously hard work and while the skipper Kumble has Test century to his credit against England, the Sri Lanka attack in their own conditions is going to be far harder to overcome.
Sourav Ganguly, who had batted soundly until he played that reckless shot against Murali, had already survived an lbw referral off Mendis. But Murali has exerted enough pressure on India to suggest he still has a chance of repeating the 2001 performance.
It had been felt that with Tendulkar and the captain, Kumble in the side, India would be well prepared for this 2008 series. Unfortunately for the tourists, Sri Lanka still have a bowling attack which in these conditions is not only highly competitive but consistent.
Of course, batsmen who are known for their strokeplay will careful note of how not to sacrifice their wickets.
Ganguly will be still wondering why he tried that sweep to the well-flighted deliver on leg stump. It's such a risky venture against someone as streetwise as Murali in these conditions and doesn't leave room for error. And Dravid was strangely bemused by the Mendis delivery that tore through his wall-like defence.
There is much to reflect, especially the way Sri Lanka batted through their innings where they placed a high price on their wickets. Virender Sehwag, for example, was guilty of throwing his wicket away with a limited overs shot and he wasn't the only one. Dinesh Karthik and Ganguly as well as Gambhir were also guilty.
Sri Lanka's declaration followed a quick post first hour lunch batting session which was propped up by an entertaining innings by Tillekeratne Dilshan who scored an undefeated 125 and a partnership with Chaminda Vaas that ended when the 600 total was reached.
There was little joy for India although the two wickets to fall were those of Thilan Samaraweera with 127, a repeat of his debut Test century against the Indians at the same venue seven years ago.
Already India's bowling figures are looking ragged as the four main bowlers have all gone for three-figure totals that has bloated their averages and left the confidence threadbare. It's not a pretty sight with the "Professor" Anil Kumble, so far wicketless in 37 overs in which he conceded 120 runs.
All this underlines again how the missed chances on day two, when Mahela Jayawardene was missed twice, will cause some thought about the importance on taking their catches as you can be assured the way Sri Lanka are batting, they place a heavy price on their wickets and look at scoring big.
Accompanied this third morning by a local "Papara" band, which has a sound similar to the Tijuana Brass, it is easy to see how Dilshan enjoyed the music. He scored freely at times, taking a six off Kumble's bowling that signalled his intention to attack the combined Harbhajan-Kumble attack.
There had been some argument whether Dilshan or Chamara Silva should fill the sixth batting place. For a start, Dilshan's bowling and fielding skills and part-time bowling abilities make him a more valued member of the team.
Dilshan's batting Friday added not only value to his career statistics; it also displayed his normally free-flowing style of batting. With runs on the board, he has the capabilities of taking quick scoring. In this he sorted out the field placings and worked the ball around, picking off occasional boundaries and making the most of some untidy bowling.
Sri Lanka have plundered a further 130 runs off the bowling this pre-lunch session and the message was clear enough to get after the runs as there are only eight sessions of the game left and as Jayawardene will tell anyone in earshot, it's not records that count but victories.
Dilshan's 144-ball century explains the hurry in the last hour as his second half-century was off almost as many deliveries.
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Total Comments: 10
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Posted By Rajiv
The Indian team has forgotten the basics of Test Cricket.It is still not too late for BCCI to call off
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Posted By Alex
If you a set mammoth target and ask indians bat , they will choke 10 out 100 times. Because indians
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Posted By arijit
hopeless performance... absolutely nothing is working for us,neither youngstars nor the experienced onces.
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Posted By Sunil Vasudeva
India\''s sorry show on day three is no surprise. A former cricketer put it very well when he said that
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Posted By Sunil Agarwal
How many times have we seen this happen! First test match and Indian batting collapses. Yesterday was no exception. First,
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