When Kiwis shocked the Indians ...

The Indian cricketers led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni who did remarkably well to dump the Sri Lankans and square the Test series, were rocked by the New Zealanders who thrashed them by 200 runs in the first game of the Micromax Triangular series which also includes Sri Lanka at the Rangiri Dambulu International Stadium under lights on Tuesday.

The New Zealanders who have a new captain in the hard hitting right hander Ross Taylor played the better all round cricket to upset the Indians who were tipped to win the first game and gain the necessary confidence to aim for this glittering trophy. The Kiwis are sans their regular skipper Daniel Vettori and dashing batsman Brendon McCallum.

It has now become the rule rather than the exception for the side batting first to win at Dambula. The Kiwis batting first won by a very big margin of 200 runs after dismissing their opponents for 88, their lowest score in this style of game in Dambulla. So one can imagine how captains would be yearning to win the toss in the future games.

Batting friendly

The wicket tends to be batting friendly to the team taking strike first and for no apparent reason tends to become cruel to the side batting next and chasing as was proved by the ignominy suffered by the Indians. May be the atmospheric changes towards the evenings and the flood lights must be having a hand in the changing of the complexion of the wicket.

As for the Kiwis this victory should give them the necessary courage and the confidence to front up to their opponents as the tournament unwinds and have a memorable ending if they continue in this form and who knows carry away the trophy to Kiwiland.

When the Kiwis went into bat and were 28 for three, things did not look encouraging for them. But two of their experienced Generals, skipper Ross Taylor and Scott Styris, put their heads down, got the feel of how the wicket was playing and quietly getting on top of the bowling, began a fantastic revival with a massive 190 stand for the fourth wicket to resuscitate the innings.

Taylor and Styris are two of the most experienced batsmen going in world cricket today. They are technically correct batsmen and have the right temperament and approach to score heavily at this level. They proved this in no uncertain terms as they butchered the Indian bowling in their devastating stand. Taylor fell five runs short of a century and Styris got 89. Pity they missed making ‘tons’.

Batting acts together

The other Kiwi batsmen did not contribute much and will do well to get their batting acts together in the remaining games and not put the burden on these two stalwarts to keep scoring. As for the Indian bowling, other than for openers Praveen Kumar right arm and Ashish Nehra, the spinners were ineffective.

How the brilliant Indian batting brigade of Dinesh Karthik, Virender Sehwag, Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Dhoni and Jadeja failed to fire is inexplicable. They have been in tighter situations than this, and rallied to come good and put their team in winning situations.

As for Yuvraj Singh he thinks he requires the ‘Revital’ vitamin tablets that he is advertising. But under lights on Tuesday night, they seemed like little boys lost as they capitulated to the Kiwi bowlers, Kyle Mills, Darrel Tuffey and Jacob Oram without a semblance of resistance to gift wrap and present a victory to the Kiwis who showed their delight by doing the jig of joy when victory was achieved.

Apparently the wicket had a lot to do with the Indian batting collapse. The wicket seemed to have played the part of Jekyll and Hyde. It was docile and then turned vicious. The Indians complain that it had a sponge bounce effect that went to make it difficult to bat on. But the Indian batsmen cannot make this an excuse for their disgraceful batting collapse.

Forget the defeats

At the time of writing, which is the eve of the New Zealand-Sri Lanka game, it is hoped that skipper Kumar Sangakkara’s luck of winning the toss, like he did in the Test series against India would continue and the coin spins correctly for him, so that he can win this one and forget the embarrassing defeat in the final Test against the Indians and chalk up a victory here and bring back the smiles to himself and his devastated team mates.

The Lankans previous fling at this venue ended in disaster when they lost the Asia Cup final to India. We hope they have learnt their lessons and would endeavour to play at their best and shed their losing habit and triumph in this tournament and place this trophy on their shelves that seems bare with their defeats in recent times.

Sangakkara will have his team strengthened with the inclusion of some dashing cricketers who have a natural flair for this style of slap, bang cricket. Left-hander Upul Tharanga comes in to partner Tillekeratne Dilshan as openers. They must make it their business to give the batsmen to follow a solid platform to launch from. They must watch their running between the wickets by gauging each other’s speed ability and not rushing like fools and sacrificing their wickets, being run out which is an ugly side of cricket.

Aggressive batsman

Accepted that Dilshan is an aggressive batsman who would like to send every delivery he faces to the boundary fence or over it. But he must learn to curb his impetuosity a little bit and mix caution with aggression. If he does just this, he can stay long at the wicket and be amongst the runs regularly.

Chamara Kapugedera, the hard hitting quick scoring right hander comes in to add muscle to the middle batting. Also included are Dinesh Chandimal, Lahiru Thirimanna and Thilina Kandamby. Kapugedera has had enough and more opportunities and it is time that he used the willow with greater responsibility and delivered consistently and not occasionally. Dinesh Chandimal will be the batsman among the younger brigade to watch.

He has the right temperament and strokes for this style of game and it is hoped that he will come good. One batsman who should be given all the encouragement to show his talents is Lahiru Thirimanna. Quick of feet, with a good eye and blessed with every stroke in the book, if given a break should stake a strong claim for a place in the final World Cup 2011 squad.

So here’s hoping that this triangular series for the Micromax Trophy will see ‘cricket luver’ly cricket’ like the Windies who set alight every version of the game when they were at their best in the 1980s would call it. The final is pencilled for August 28 and we hope the two best teams will contest the final played under lights with a carnival atmosphere, because this style of game is carnival.

Murali and Twenty-20

The first human to capture 800 Test wickets and who also head the wicket taking list in 50-over international cricket Muttiah Muralitharan has made it known that he would like to play twenty-20 and county cricket for another two or three years.

Muralitharan has also told the Sri Lankan Cricket Selection Committee headed by former Sri Lankan batting champion Aravinda de Silva that if they require his services for the next World Cup in the sub continent that he is available. Otherwise he would like to play Twenty-20 and county cricket for two or three years before calling it quits.

Apparently the selectors will be searching for spinners who could contribute to Sri Lanka winning the next World Cup. But if they fail in their endeavour, then they will not hesitate to call on the spinner to help them. It will be interesting to see how the selectors go from here. Winning the World Cup is the bottom line.

It was interesting to read Muralitharan saying that he quit Test cricket not because of any physical problems, but because he thought it was time to go when he is on a high and not when people were asking why he is still playing. As for us, Muralitharan could have gone on for another two years because spin bowlers do not have to do a lot of running up to deliver like fast bowlers do. But he thinks he has made the right decision and we must respect that.