Tag Archives: mendis

Questions for Sri Lanka

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Pakistan are in a great position to go 1-0 up in the series against Sri Lanka, with 97 runs to get with 2 days and 8 wickets remaining. The new-look Pakistani bowling has been a revelation, while some of the experienced Sri Lankan batsman failed to trouble the scorers too much. For good measure, Younis Khan once again chipped in with wickets.

Assuming that Pakistan completes the task tomorrow without too many worries, there are many questions for Sri Lanka:

  1. This is not a good start for Sangakkara as a captain. We have seen how Sangakkara’s batting changed when he turned from wicketkeeper-batsman to specialist batsman. Now, will the pressures of captaincy (especially lost Tests) affect his batting? He is, by far, the best batsman in the Lankan team (Mahela included) and it would be a disaster if he under-performs.
  2. It is a little weird that the Sri Lankan team has three players with 50+ averages (Sangakkara, Jayawardene, Samaraweera) and yet have been unable to produce results in line with those averages. I have pointed out several times that Sri Lanka’s over-scheduling of matches with the lower-level Test nations like Bangladesh have inflated the averages of many in the team and prevented greater influx of fresh blood. You look at a player like Samaraweera and you wonder how he deserves a 50+ average, especially when his away record is terrible.
  3. Tillakaratne Dilshan continues as before. I know he has been in good form in the IPL and the World Twenty20, but his Test form has always been a case of, “I think they are ready to drop me, so let me hit a century” attitude. I am pretty confident that he will strike form in the last Test when Pakistan are probably up 2-0 and retain his spot for the next tour. The Sri Lankan selectors really need to light a fire under him, so that they don’t keep having average contributors in the team.
  4. Assuming Mendis is not going to do anything more in this Test, the question is: Was he over-hyped? Once batsman have started getting a feel for his bowling, Mendis does not seem to have any new tricks. Pakistan have totally taken him apart in many matches they have played. Without Murali bowling, he has been unable to put much pressure on the Pakistanis. This goes back to what I mentioned about Hussey: early success can be a career killer because the opposition concentrates a lot of think power against you and tries to derail your plans. While a more modest player is left alone, the stars are targeted sometimes mercilessly. Mendis needs to make a comeback soon.

Anyway, so far, the match has been great entertainment while we wait for the first Ashes Test.

ODI Giants Falling Down

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Does anyone remember who played the final match of the last one-day World Cup? The leading teams at that time, Australia and Sri Lanka, are in a miserable state, one staring down an embarrassing series defeat to New Zealand and the other, even worse, trying to avoid a 5-0 whitewash. Both of them at home in their strongholds. What a way for giants to fall.

This blog has had a lot to talk about Australia’s decline with the retirements of their top players and Sri Lanka’s unhealthy obsession with playing the minnows. Australia’s bad fortunes were expected, but not to this extent. But if you want to draw a line in time, the Sydney Test against India would be it. Before that Test, Australia were invincible. Australia won that Test on the basis of many questionable umpiring decisions and a last-minute effort by a part-time bowler (who will probably never replicate that).

For all the excitement of winning a close Test, the victory enraged the Indians who were not too subtle about calling the Australians and their captain cheaters. Many in the press did not like the final celebrations and some called for Ponting’s head. It is understandable to receive bad PR after a loss, but to have it after a win is pitiful and demoralizing. I would surmise that Australia were never the same again. After that Test, Australia lost the next one. They went on to lose the Test series in India and both the Test series and the ODI series at home.

With the bubble of invincibility bursted, smaller opponents are no longer in awe of them. New Zealand, never an Australian bunny, are now ready to dish out some tough treatment. Last time, we called for the Australians to take a break. Well, Ricky Ponting look one, but he has decided to come back in the next ODI. This is stupidity at its extreme. There is little upside and potentially a lot of downside to Australia.

Consider this: If Australia, without Ricky Ponting, lost this series, it could be blamed on Clarke’s captaincy and the team’s poor batting. The bowling has done a good job, if not exactly winning matches. If they now lose the series, there are no scapegoats to blame and no knight in shining armor to save them. They will have to accept that they are just not that good, and that is not enough confidence to fight the South Africans in their own den. And you have to wonder what Ponting’s return will do to Clarke, one of their in-form batsmen. This is deja vu for Australia. Hussey lost his captaincy after losing to NZ (a series where Australia’s bowlers did them in), and then had a long, poor run of form.

Regarding Sri Lanka, we should have predicted this. They barely won the Triangular Tournament in Bangladesh, after losing once to them in the group match and then barely defeating them in the final. They also lost a match against Pakistan before coming back strongly. Our favorite Sri Lankan minnow bully, Dilshan, is, as expected, sleeping on the job with a 19.25 batting average against the Indians. Soon enough, the Bangladeshis or Kenyans will return and Dilshan will be back in form.

The biggest reason behin the Indian victories has been the neutralization of the Sri Lankan 2Ms. Murali and Mendis have just taken 6 wickets in 4 matches. This is Mendis’s worst series to date (51.66 average and 5.34 runs/over), and a bad omen for the future. If the Indians have learnt to pick him, surely other teams will know that he can be handled. He has to practise some new tricks or a bright flame for the Lankans will be snuffed quickly.

Cricket’s 2008 Top Headliners!

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So what were the top stories of 2008?

Inaugural Success of IPL

Year 2008 witnessed the opening of IPL (Indian Premier League), the mega event from BCCI that clearly gave cricket a stunning make-over and boost in game excitement, viewership and tremendous marketing potential. The mantra for 2008 became T20 or, as it is called, 20-20. A 3-hour-rapid fire game that takes you to the edge of your seat until the final ball is bowled.

IPL is BCCI’s response to the rival Indian Cricket League (ICL) into Twenty-20 era. They pulled up 8 teams from Indian cities bringing overseas and domestic player mixture. The key difference being IPL swamped in current top International players while ICL dominantly settled for retired, yesteryear stars. IPL is BCCI’s child,  so you can imagine the media attention, money involved is big.

South Africa Record 2nd Highest Run Chase in Test Cricket History

South Africa beat Australia in the first Test of their series by 6 wickets chasing down a huge victory target of 413, becoming, in the process, the 2nd highest-run chasing team in Test cricket. AB de Villiers was chosen Man-of-the-Match for his unbeaten 106 in the chase (and for his vital 1st innings 63 and pouching 4 catches off the Australian batting line). Graeme Smith continued to excel in batting in the 4th innings, with his average the 3rd highest in history, behind Geoff Boycott (England) and Sunil Gavaskar (India). West Indies still hold the record for highest run chaser, scoring 418/7 against Australia in 2003.

The Super Six of 2008

Chanderpaul 6 and Win – In their ODI home series against Sri Lanka.

Mystery Spinner – Ajantha Mendis

2008 saw the entry of a new (yet another!) spin wizard from Sri Lanka with his finger talking googlies, flippers, offbreaks, legbreaks and anything you can spell. He clearly gave India a very hard run during their away series and even India’s strong middle order were unable to read him. Mendis took 26 Test scalps and lead the 2008 ODI bowling with 48 wickets at an astonishing average of 10.12 and economy rate of 3.54. He is overturning the conventional wisdom in ODI where bowlers are relegated to side acts as batsman become big bat bullies.

Take a look at Mendis cleaning India’s clock in the Asia Cup final.

2008 Top Performances – Batting & Bowling

Top 10 ODI Batsmen

  1. Gautam Gambir (India): 1119 runs – Gambir came of age this year and stabilized the Indian opening.
  2. Mahendra Dhoni (India):  1097
  3. Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka): 942
  4. Virender Sehwag (India): 893
  5. Yuvraj Singh (India): 893
  6. Younis Khan (Pakistan): 865
  7. Salman Bhatt (Pakistan): 861
  8. Tamim Iqbal (Bangladesh): 807
  9. Shoaib Malik (Pakistan): 681
  10. Suresh Raina (India): 680

Top 10 Test Batsmen

  1. Graeme Smith (South Africa): 1656 Runs
  2. Virender Sehwag (India): 1462
  3. Ricky Ponting (Australia): 1182
  4. Hashim Amla (South Africa): 1161
  5. Gautam Gambhir (India): 1134
  6. VVS Laxman (India): 1086
  7. Neil McKenzie (South Africa): 1073
  8. Michael Clarke (Australia): 1063
  9. Sachin Tendulkar (India): 1063
  10. AB de Villiers (South Africa): 1061

Top 10 ODI Bowlers

  1. Ajantha Mendis (Sri Lanka): 48 wickets
  2. Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka): 35
  3. Nuwan Kulasekara (Sri Lanka): 33
  4. Stuart Broad (England): 32
  5. Sohail Tanvir (Pakistan): 32
  6. Nathan Bracken (Australia): 31
  7. Shahid Afridi (Pakistan): 30
  8. Abdur Razzak (Bangladesh): 29
  9. Mashrafe Mortaza (Bangladesh): 28
  10. Ishant Sharma (India): 27

Top 10 Test Bowlers

  1. Dale Steyn (South Africa): 74 Wickets
  2. Harbhajan Singh (India): 63
  3. Mitchell Johnson (Australia): 63
  4. Brett Lee (Australia): 57
  5. Makhaya Ntini (South Africa):  54
  6. Daniel Vettori (New Zealand): 54
  7. Ryan Sidebottom (England): 47
  8. Jimmy Anderson (England): 46
  9. Morne Morkel (South Africa): 43
  10. Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka): 43

Stats Courtesy: Cricinfo.com

High-Tech Review System

ICC embraced the technology to allow the batting or fielding team to appeal against umpiring decisions. Considering the amount of pressure the umpires are involved in making critical decisions which significantly impact game outcomes, this is definitely a welcome move from ICC. Not to say anything about avoiding acrimonious incidents such as what happened in the Sydney Test between Australia and India.

Controversy

Harbhajan Singh made his mark on 2008, but not always in a good way. He and Andrew Symonds were involved in a racial sledge/abuse case that resulted a three test ban on Harbhajan Singh. Not satisfied with that, Harbhajan got into a slapping incident with fellow Indian teammate Sreesanth and got thrown out of the IPL. He is back with the Indian team spearheading the Indian attack.

Well there you go that rounded up 2008 stories. Let’s look forward to yet another exciting year of cricket in 2009.