Jan 01 2009
Axe On Sri Lanka?
Well with most of our eyes glued to the television sets, watching the encounter between South Africa and Australia, it seems like the other side of the cricketing world is totally forgotten about. In addition to the series involving South Africa and Australia, there are also matches between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh on one side and the ODI series between New Zealand and West Indies. Though the first said match was washed off owing to rain, the second one stated above was in full flow, as one could watch a once-in-bluemoon encounter between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. This was one such fight that really deserves the praise.
Needless to say, Bangladesh gave a tight reply to the Sri Lankan bowling, including Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vass. Some negligience on the Sri Lankan part should not go unnoticed what so ever. This reminds me of Ricky Ponting saying after the two losses at the hands of the minnows by India and Pakistan, which was “A win against such teams is nothing great, however, if it loses, it is bound to make headlines”. Guess Sri Lanka has to say this to themselves. It was a rather good decision by the presentation party to have declared Shakib Al Hasan of Bangladesh as the man of the match.
Perhaps! The availability of Ajantha Mendis to the party in the second test would be a great boost to the Sri Lankan bowling, whose line up is completely dependent on Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vass. Though Sri Lanka has every chance of wrapping this series 2-0, this would not be enough for such a team against a minnow like Bangladesh, who are yet to make it big even in a test match, let alone a test series. If this is the reach of the Sri Lankan players, one can imagine the situation against a strong team like Pakistan whom they will be facing shortly.
Had this been a depleted team, something could have been said. but, a full fledged team succumbing so easily would lead to several questions related to their caliber. This not being the first time that the Sri Lankan team is performing so badly.even in the recent ine day series against Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka did make a mess of their game. However, Zimbabwe were in no mood to compromise and didn’t make up their mind to grab to win even a single ODI, despite giving them an opportunity to win.The last time they were found playing some decent cricket was in the 3 test series which Sri Lanka won 2-1.
