Old master and old tricks

In South Africa last September, India proved themselves to be adept practitioners of T20 cricket, but in a rain-reduced game at the Manuka Oval in Canberra, it was one of the old pioneers of slash-and-burn batsmanship that put paid to their chances. Even as India endeavour to fashion a young side ahead of the next World Cup, Sanath Jayasuriya proved that there's still place for experience at the highest level.

At 38, the reflexes aren't quite what they once were, and on pitches that offer more assistance to the bowlers than this one, he will be found out. But on the rare days when he does get it right, Jayasuriya is still second only to Adam Gilchrist as a destructive force. He may have made only 27 on Tuesday, but the breathtaking assault on Sreesanth, 23 runs in an over, more or less decided the game.

The key hand was played by Tillakaratne Dilshan, one who hasn't always done justice to a special talent. After Jayasuriya had set the tone, Dilshan and Mahela Jayawardene saw it home with sensible batting. Rather than go for the booming strokes, they concentrated on singles and twos and when Sreesanth returned for another wretched over, Dilshan finished it off with the aid of a dollop of luck.

It's hard to be too critical of the Indians. In more testing conditions in the morning, they went along at nearly seven an over, with Rohit Sharma playing another superb hand. They probably lost it because no batsman could go berserk quite like Jayasuriya did, but it was still a fine effort.

Rohit gets better with each game, and it was his composure as much as the range of strokes that caught the eye. Yuvraj Singh's Australian nightmare continued, and he must do better on a belter of a batting pitch in Adelaide. If he continues to struggle, Robin Uthappa must be promoted and Suresh Raina must be given his opportunity. The last thing Indian cricket needs is to go back to the holy-cow mentality.

The bowlers, so excellent against Australia on a helpful surface at the MCG, learnt some harsh lessons today. It's one thing to bowl an impeccable line and length when things are in your favour, and quite another to keep someone like Jayasuriya in check on a more placid surface. Sreesanth had an awful outing, but must play the next game. A bad spell is a bit like falling off a horse. The sooner you remount and get on with the ride, the better.

In its final edition, a tri-series that has been deathly boring over the past few seasons is threatening to be quite a thriller. The last time that happened, in 2001-02, Steve Waugh lost both the captaincy and his place in the one-day side, as New Zealand and South Africa made the final. But with two World Cup wins to boast of, Ricky Ponting needn't worry about a tap on the shoulder anytime soon.

Comments

[Peter b]

I agree it is hard to be critical of the Indian effort.

They have run Sri Lanka close and beaten Australia. The runners up and world champions respectively.

Not bad for a team that didn't get past the first round at the last World Cup.

[bunty]

well written; amen re sreesanth, yuvi, uttappa and raina; anyone noticed the good duleep performances today by vrv and rahane (the indian junior team in nz in early 07 saw many good performances including by rahane and tanmay s, what stood out though was these 2's decent tho not spectacular performances on the only greentop encountered)