Indian Oil Cup - Ind vs. SL

Final thoughts on the match
There was never any doubt who were favorites going into this match. And in the end, it was experience that won the match for SL. Jayasuriya's injury was a blessing in disguise as he guided his younger players with him till the end. And that's where India came unstuck having Rao and Raina in the middle order. Rao played well and showed good signs, but perhaps just needed a stronger batsman at the other end. Dravid's captaincy was agressive and proactive and his batting was measured and calm. But he and Greg Chappell would do well to reconsider India's age old tactics of 7 batsmen and 4 bowlers. The situation after the 40th over in the SL innings just needed the mean accuracy of Kumble to squeeze some pressure on the batsmen. Tommorow should see India post their first victory of the tournament over West Indies, but they need to win comfortably to get some confidence for the tournament ahead. As for SL, their top order still looks out of sorts and they almost lost it in the end. Jayawardane is a real worry for them, he just seems to mentally switch off at times and throw his wicket away. Jayasuriya was declared MOM, though I felt they could have given it to the debutant Lokuhettige for his excellent bowling and quickfire 21 when runs were hard to come by.

SL innings

Atapattu and Sangakkara opening for SL. No word on Jayasuriya yet. Pathan bowling first up. On a side note, Javagal Srinath is a commentator here. I don't have any special regards for his writing skills but his commentating is pathetic. Lot of personal rants against batsmen being captains and not understanding bowlers' needs...Yawn!

SL win by 3 wickets - Maharoof played a good little cameo and most importantly stayed with Jayasuriya till the end. The difference in the end in a low scoring match ended up being Sehwag's bowling figures. What match to start of the tournament!

40.3 overs 172/7 - Zaheer gets Chandana caught behind trying to tickle it down to thirdman. This had been an attacking partnership and Jayasuriya's batting beautifully. Good to get into the tail and now put some real pressure on Jayasuriya. Interesting to note Jayasuriya slapping his bat on the ground after that daft shot from Chandana. Don't usually see him too animated while batting. Dravid's doing this well, setting attacking fields pretty much throughout the innings.

32.2 overs 140/6 - Pathan gets Lokuhettige bowled off an inside edge. Well! Dravid's bowling changes seem to be working well here. This should definitely get Chandana in. Boy! What a game this is turning out to be.

32 overs 139/5 - Well! Now it makes sense why they sent Lokuhettige. He's on 20 of 13 balls including a huge six off Sehwag. Jayasuriya is batting well, taking a single and getting the strike to the youngster. It's drinks now and Srinath is back going yada-yada over India not going in with a fifth bowler. I think he makes a good point. Just wish he didn't make it sound so personal.

29.4 overs 112/5 - Arnold gone and Harbhajan's got two. That was awesome, bowled off spinners throughout and then slipped in the straight fast one right through Arnold's gate. Arnold had no clue at all. This is going down to the wire. Suprising that Lokuhettige is coming in. Thought Chandana should be coming in.

27 overs 104/4 - Perfect timing! Harbhajan gets Dilshan LBW. Dilshan going for a sweep and is caught plumb in front. As I write this, I hear a huge roar and it can only mean Jayasuriya is in. This looks like it's going to be a close one.

26 overs 102/3 - Good strong partnership between Arnold and Dilshan here. Jayasuriya seems to have got some repair work done to his shoulder. He might be the next man in. The match is still a little tight. A wicket here and it's Chandana, an injured Jayasuriya and the tail. Dilshan encountered a torrid time with his first run coming off his 21st delivery. But he's looked pretty good from there. And it's about time Dravid has to get his fifth bowler. This might be the crucial time in this innings. A wicket here and India could get it back all even. At this moment, it looks to be SL's game.

15.3 overs 60/3 - Jayawardane gone! Absolute beauty from Zaheer, a little bit of swing into the batsman and through the gate to rattle the stumps. And I was just wondering if Zaheer should be taken off. The problem Dravid has is the 10 overs from Sehwag and Yuvraj. Arnold in and game definitely on.

13.1 overs 55/2 - Brilliant piece of fielding from Raina. Direct hit with one stump to aim at and Atapattu's gone. This has been a match of strange captaincy. Dravid has Pathan and Zaheer still going despite a few errors in line and length from both bowlers. I would have thought he might have bought Nehra or Harbhajan in at some point. Dilshan in to bat. Still no Jayasuriya.

4.3 overs 19/1 - Pathan gets Sangakkara LBW with a beauty. Swings in the air and catches him right in front of middle. Big big wicket. Sangakkara was looking in brilliant form smashing Zaheer for 10 off his second over. Gets Jayawardane to the crease. Zaheer Khan looks out of sorts but Pathan seems to have a good rythmn going.

Indian innings

50 overs 205/9 - Murali spun his web around the Indian lower-order and it was pretty desperate stuff at one stage at 159-8 in the 43rd over. Pathan and Rao batted well but slowly to stitch together a 37 run partnership. But Murali got Pathan caught in the deep and Rao caught behind off his 5th and 6th delivery of his 9th over. And then Atapattu did the inexplicable and got Fernando and Arnold bowling. Why would you deny a man on a hat-trick an over with two tail-enders out there with no chance of picking his deliveries? Fernando got belted by Harbhajan and Zaheer and ended up conceding 61 off his 10. It might prove to be crucial given the only two teams have ever chased more than 200 on this ground before.

And to add to the drama, when Murali eventually came back, Harbhajan reverse-swept him on his hat-trick ball. Harbhajan and Zaheer added 43 off 33 balls and got the Indians past the psychological 200 mark. With speculation on whether Jayasuriya might bat, these extra runs might be crucial. I think Atapattu missed a trick here. He had India on the mat but bowled his part-timers for too long instead of going for the kill. I also think the Indian think tank made an error by sending in two debutants at 5 and 6. Venugopal Rao looks an accomplished batsman but not one to hit a few out of the ground. He was clearly not comfortable trying to force the pace. Might make sense in the next match to have either Kaif or Yuvraj bat there and give maybe Rao a chance higher up. I say Rao because, given his first ball dismissal, Raina might have to make way for Laxman in the next match.

A total of 205 gives Pathan and co. a reasonable target to defend and the history of the ground suggests that the ball tends to zip around in the evening session. A few early wickets and this might be a cracker of a match. Stay tuned!

32.5 overs 122/6 - Dravid goes, bowled around his legs by Chandana for 54. This is a huge wicket for the Sri Lankans. Dravid just looked to up the tempo with Murali off the attack. This brings us to the tail. Pathan is in.

30 overs 108/5 - This has been a good fightback from the Indians. Rao did ride his luck with a few lucky edges. Dravid is batting solid on 43. The plan is to keep Murali out and then get a few off the other bowlers. Chandana doesn't look as threatening. If the Indians can keep this going for another 10 overs, then they should be well set up to get as close to the 220 that looks like a good score for this pitch. It's a little two-paced and should give Harbhajan Singh a good chance on this pitch.

19.1 overs 63/5 - India in dire straits now. Kaif got one that stopped on him and he had to check his drive at the last minute. Couldn't keep it down and Murali takes a good one. And then Murali gets Suresh Raina first ball with a peach of a doosra. Raina had no idea at all. This brings in the next debutant Venugopal Rao. Another interesting update is that Jayasuriya has dislocated his shoulder due to a painful spill on the field. Might be interesting to see if he comes out to bat.

14 overs, 44/3 - Sorry about the delay guys. Couldn't access blogger.com for a while. But the story so far, Dravid won the toss and elected to bat. Laxman withdrew at the start of the match with back spasms. So two debutants for India, Venugopal Rao and Suresh Raina. But have been watching the match through this time. Strange happenings, Sehwag hammered for a while, Dhoni swished and Yuvraj Singh played a dreadful pull shot. The wicket looks painfully slow and the Sri Lankan bowlers are doing the basics right. Maharoof and the new guy Loukahettige are just putting it on a length and keeping it tight. So far looking par for about 220-240.