***Official*** India in Sri Lanka

[Dissector]

I don't think there is much to choose between the SL and Indian pacers. Vaas showed that he can still contribute but he is clearly on a decline as a bowler. On the whole Zaheer is better. Malinga is exciting but has yet to show consistent results on the test stage; Ishant is similar except that he is even more inexperienced. Fernando can be quite good on the rare occasion which is too rare to be of much use to Sri Lanka. Sreesanth, whom you didn't mention, is a better bowler who is quite talented and not as inconsistent as Fernando. Ultimately both pace attacks are quite ordinary.

 

[Uppercut]

Malinga's a funny one. Some batsman can flick him around easily due to his lack of bounce, some find him impossible to see. Andrew Strauss said he was the most difficult bowler to see out of the hand he'd ever played against, Ross Taylor couldn't hit anywhere near the ball when he faced him in last year's world cup. Also, his world-class yorker and effective bouncer make him excellent at cleaning up the tail. In a well-balanced attack, he could be made to look like the best bowler in the world. But if he has to bowl in situations where he isn't effective, he can look like an utterly ineffective pie-thrower.

 

[Anil]

we'll lose this test as well, just hope it is not as humiliating a drubbing as the last one...

 

[duffer]

Batting's meant to be at it's best today according to Waqar and the other commentators. Really need someone to cash in with Viru.

 

[Lostman]

If India get 350, they have a great chance of winning this.

 

[duffer]

11th straight century Viru's converted into a 150. Incredible.

 

[ret]

150 up for Sehwag

 

[duffer]

Gah, Laxman throws it away with a loose shot. Long hop, he tries to pull in the air instead of on the ground and he's caught.

 

[ret]

dumb cricket by Laxman .... when will he learn to convert 30-40s into 100s

a good opportunity for Karthik to make up for his bad performance in the last test

 

[duffer]

Haha, Dinesh absolutely clueless against Mendis.

EDIT: Should've reviewd that, probably missing off, but either way Karthik had no idea where it was going.

 

[Dissector]

Why didn't Karthik ask for the review? India has been pretty dumb about using the review system so far.

 

[duffer]

Why didn't Karthik ask for the review? India has been pretty dumb about using the review system so far.

Sehwag down the other end is the one who should've known it was worth a review.

 

[Dissector]

Yes, I did notice Karthik talking to Sehwag before walking off.

Meanwhile how amazing is Sehwag? His consistency in scoring big hundreds at around a run a ball is quite amazing. To be sure he usually does it only on flat tracks like one but there have been many flat tracks in the history of the game and many great batsmen but none of them have piled up such big scores at such speed so consistently. To date he has scored a run-a-ball triple and a run-a-ball 250 and is now close to scoring a run-a-ball 200. I am sure most of his other big hundreds have come quite quickly as well.

 

[duffer]

This review is touch and go, think it's turning too much to be given otu with a stride like that.

EDIT: Not out, Lanka used up all their reviews.

 

[duffer]

Really neat stumping by Prassana. Lazy foot from Kumble but good stumping nonetheless.

Bhajji needs to bat like he did in Sydney and hang in there with Sehwag now.

 

[Lostman]

sehwag's innings is approaching Lara type standards right now.

 

[Dissector]

Harbhajan is such a moron. He takes a single off the last ball off Murali leaving himself to face a full over of Mendis who ,of course, makes an absolute fool of him. Mendis takes his first five-for. I seriously wonder if any test bowling record is safe against this man.

 

[duffer]

Mendis gets another one with the legspinner. Apart from Sehwag no Indian plaer has come close to picking that delivery. First 5-fer for Mendis, and Sehwag could be stranded before he gets to 200.

 

[irfan]

Could someone tell Mendis to go join a carrom tournament and stop scything through our batting lineup. Seriously its getting really annoying now.

 

[Dissector]

And another one bites the dust. Not sure what Sehwag thought he was up to taking a single off the first ball off Murali.