*Official* Sri Lanka in India

[Migara]

SL keeps losing due to bad selections. The game that they geniunely lost was the third ODI which was due to batting collapse. First one could have gone any way.

The selection mistakes in 4th ODI were selecting only five bowlers, out of three are new comers and one out of form. And the bowler on form was the 5th / 6th bowler for SL for over 15 years. Even 400 cannot be defended with such bowling attack. Dropping Welgedara was a big mistake. He or Kulasekara should have played instead of Samraweera. 290 would have been defendable with two more wickets going down.

Selecting Mendis was a big mistake too. He's woefully out of form. Malinga should be dropped. He's not doing properly.

My team for 5th ODI

Dilshan, Tharanga, Jayasuriya, Sangakkara, Jayawardane, Kandambi, Perera, Kulasekara, Randiv, Lakmal, Welagedara

 

[Sir Alex]

These two teams would have played 12 ODIs just this year alone after tomorrows match. I think it is just a bit too much in a year. India has won 8 out of 11 matches so far in 2009, with a batting avg of 47.23 and rpo of 6.11. Corresponding figures for SL are 34.07 and 5.92.

 

[Arjun]

Tendulkar not playing the Bangladesh ODI series. Good decision can rest himself for tougher stuff. Future does look exciting though with so many talents around. Wish the bowling picks itself up though.

That's a very questionable selection. Too many questions are unanswered, but nothing is done to that effect. While it's a good thing to look at the future, they need to pick the best players around, with the World Cup not too far away. They haven't done so for this series.

The one good thing they've done is the recall of Amit Mishra. Outside of that, there's nothing to be upbeat about here. Except Bhajji, Mishra and Zaheer, none of the bowlers can bat. Moreover, some of the bowlers have list-A OD averages over 30. There's Laxmiratan Shukla, a seam-up all-rounder and steady batsman. There's Vinay Kumar, a more experienced and more versatile OD bowler. There's Badrinath, and we know enough about him. There's also Irfan Pathan, who's been in good form with bat and ball, and captained his team. They may not be the bright future of Indian cricket, but they're more likely to win a tournament for the team.

 

[ret]

I think it's a good move by Tendulkar to skip BD series. With cricket boards organizing series after series, it's not a bad idea for players to focus on more important series as it's not like you have to play in each and every game of each and every series that your board organizes

At the end of the day, how many games a player can play depends up on his fitness level (and ability to focus series after series) so it won't be a bad idea if cricketers start evaluating their own ability on how many games they want to play in a year

 

[SJS]

I dont see batting being the main problem for Sri Lanka. The fact is that they came to India thinking Mendis is still going to be a handful and that Murali would be treated with the respect a bowler of his stature deserves. Sehwag's near triple in the Test set the tone and Indian batsmen have really roughed up the Sri Lankan attack so much that now it is looking like a complete crisis of confidence.

The batsmen have actually done a decent job. Inspite of Jayasuriya as well as Jayawardane not firing the scores, barring one game have been very impressive by Sri Lanka. Its just that India has made such light work of them and for that Sri Lanka's inexperienced bowling attack is the issue. I am sure they did not think that by the time of the fourth game they would be playing three bowlers whose sum total experience in matches would come to less than the fingers of one hand.

First with the retirement of Vaas and now with the man handling of the spinners, Sri Lanka is thoroughly exposed and vulnerable.

They might as well persist with Jayasuriya as a bowling all rounder, seriously.

 

[Edged&Taken]

When Yuvraj returns, I guess it will be goodbye Raina , to make place for Kohli / Pandey

 

[Howsie]

Sounds like a top one day wicket

 

[social]

Pitches have gone from sublime to ridiculous - flattest roads to an unplayable one today

Obviously something has gone seriously wrong with this square and games should not be scheduled here again until they put it right as this is hardly a one-off if Im not mistaken

 

[Sir Alex]

WTF match called off due to dangerous pitch!

 

[honestbharani]

Compared to the pitch at Jamaica where I remember a game being called off, this one is much better... It is not really unplayable. It is up and down but the grass being left on seems to be the real problem. Still, can't complain the players not wanna risk injuries in a dead rubber but I seriously, SERIOUSLY wonder if the game would have been called off on such a pitch say 20 years ago... How dangerous a pitch is also depends on how the batsmen are able to cope with it.

 

[Sir Alex]

Compared to the pitch at Jamaica where I remember a game being called off, this one is much better... It is not really unplayable. It is up and down but the grass being left on seems to be the real problem. Still, can't complain the players not wanna risk injuries in a dead rubber but I seriously, SERIOUSLY wonder if the game would have been called off on such a pitch say 20 years ago... How dangerous a pitch is also depends on how the batsmen are able to cope with it.

Yeah a Perth pitch 20 years back would have been even worse than this. However time's are a changin.

 

[Lostman]

At first when I was watching I didn't think the uneven bounce was that serious, just thought that the batsmen have been spoilt by flat wickets.
However, the hawkeye pitch map was really telling. Balls bouncing at the same location had quite a large height difference.
Uneven bounce on a cricket pitch shouldn't be around 3-4 feet.

 

[Sir Alex]

At first when I was watching I didn't think the uneven bounce was that serious, just thought that the batsmen have been spoilt by flat wickets.
However, the hawkeye pitch map was really telling. Balls bouncing at the same location had quite a large height difference.
Uneven bounce on a cricket pitch shouldn't be around 3-4 feet.

Hmm.. No point in continuing this if it is risky for the players and this match is of really no consequence as Indians have already won the rubber. If the uneven bounce is as bad as you say then SL have every right to complain.

 

[Migara]

I'd say give the match to the Indians and come home. No point in continuing on this ridiculous pitch. SL cannot risk further injuries.

 

[Lostman]

I'd say give the match to the Indians and come home. No point in continuing on this ridiculous pitch. SL cannot risk further injuries.

one more injury ands it the return of Mubarak...

 

[honestbharani]

one more injury ands it the return of Mubarak...

All the more reason to cancel the match then..

 

[Lostman]

All the more reason to cancel the match then..

That's why Sanga ran out

 

[Migara]

one more injury ands it the return of Mubarak...

Good one!

 

[archie mac]

5-89 does not sound that bad

 

[Shri]

This is ****ing stupid. India does not even have a 140 Kmph+ bowler in the side and the pace at which these guys bowl is not fast enough to inflict injury. Wtf is wrong with these people?