Three Nil Spanking: What Do We Take From it?

I always find it amusing how much doom and gloom descends on social media and general conversation when the Sri Lankan team doesn’t do well. They really are an oasis of joy in the desert of Sri Lankan mediocrity. But it can also be dangerous, when we place so much emphasis on the performance of a few blokes on whom we have so little influence. Allowing them to dictate our moods is silly. But it happens. And that’s true of all zealous fan followings.

What’s surprised me most though is how people are still so emotionally invested in this pointless, hastily arranged, counter productive series, and allowing its results to meet with such unhappiness. Yes, Sri Lanka have been soundly spanked and India have won the series 3-0 with Virat Kohli handling his side excellently. Shikhar Dhawan has been belligerently brilliant and Rayadu’s hundred in the second game was also a special innings. Add that to the consistent urgency of Raina and Kohli and Sri Lanka’s inexperienced bowling attack had little to offer in terms of resistance.

There’s no shame of course, in losing this series and no shame in being pulverised by an awesome batting line up in their home conditions. Sri Lanka have traditionally not done well in bilateral series in India and this is not breaking news. So hold onto the outpouring of vitriol. This Indian batting machine with Dhoni still to join it, is playing with unaffected freedom. They are confident, and that confidence stems from their captain be it Kohli or Dhoni, and the young top order players are being given good plans to follow. They also have the safety net of knowing that Raina, Kohli and Dhoni coming in after them are masters at their trade. While the likes of Sangakkara, Mahela and Mathews can match that Indian trio, the problem lies more significantly at the top of the order. Regardless of the outcome of this tour, it was perhaps a blessing in disguise to highlight the areas of inadequacy Sri Lanka face. And it has done so at a time in which the Selectors and Coaches can do their best to turn things around.

The problems at the top, I have been going on about for a while. KJP is a great little find, but has to find his form. Playing international cricket after a long while, it’s unsurprising that he hasn’t done well especially with the likes of Yadav bowling very good opening spells, not only to him, but also accounting for Sangakkara. Ishant Sharma has also bowled excellently this series and losing the occasional early wicket is always going to happen in ODI cricket. This can’t be legislated for, but we can plan how we respond.

While a lot has been made of Dilshan’s numbers in the last two years where he averages over 50, the question also needs to be asked whether he is maximising his team’s opportunities in the initial overs. Dilshan has always been a dasher but seems to have slowed down a little with age. The selectors may actually ponder bringing him in later on in the innings so that his experience will also bolster the middle order. Despite the runs, Dilshan hasn’t been able to give Sri Lanka the flyer it sometimes needs, regardless of who his partner is, and this lack of impetus from the top is an important issue. In 1996 both Kalu and Sanath destroyed oppositions. If they didn’t, there was Aravinda and the steady Gurusinghe. However, at present we don’t have an Aravinda and Sangakkara is better than Gurusinghe was. So it is important that the guys who can play long innings are given the opportunity to do so without feeling the ‘scoreboard pressure’ too much.

In the modern game boundary hitting at the top of the order is essential unless you have the violent finishers that other teams have. Which we don’t. And are unlikely to before the World Cup. This is why Mahela always gets out in the power play because he knows how important it is to accelerate because we are usually not capable of scoring 100 runs in the last ten. It’s a balance that needs to be found. Do we look for the boundary hitters at the end, or do we go at it from the start and then consolidate? I would imagine that giving the senior duo time to build an innings and exploit their experience is the best way to go about it. But given that their running between the wickets is not going to be great – as can be expected from two 37 year olds, going on 38 – a platform is very necessary. Even yesterday, Mahela’s innings began slowly and gathered momentum. It is what. he. always. does. I don’t understand why he tries to do things differently, by hitting out impetuously. If he faces 30 overs and other players aren’t comically bad, chances are we’ll win.

Much has also been said of the shot selection of the middle order. Granted, they didn’t play great shots, but when your run rate is not even above 5 then something needs to happen, or someone has to die trying to make it happen. But the necessity for them to need to take undue risks are also largely because of the fact there was no platform to build on.

Fielding is also a problem. Don’t worry about Sangakkara’s wicket keeping, you can rest assured he’ll be working on it from the moment the plane touches down bringing him back to SL. But the outfielding is a problem. There are many liabilities in the field who don’t really compensate with the bat either. The questions, to me, are obvious? The next question is whether answers, correct answers, will be found in time? And can the personnel being selected regularly provide those answers?