But the best play right now is the Test match between New Zealand and Pakistan.

New Zealand, put into bat, lose their opener off the first ball and limp to 211/6 where Vettori, as usual, leads the fightback with a 99. New Zealand end up with 429, a challenging total.

Pakistan have their own collapse when the Akmals pull them from 85/5 to a respectable 332. Bond takes a five-for on his return Test.

New Zealand have the chance to put Pakistan out, but Pakistan is no mood to allow them. New Zealand are 152/9 as I write this.

For the Indian fans, there is nothing more joyful than seeing India destroy Sri Lanka by an innings, but in terms of entertaining cricket, the Pak-NZ Test is the best thing going on right now.

Great, now we depend on Pakistan even for the slightest chance of making it to the semis.

Just like Sri Lanka depended on England! As was more than adequately shown today, England had no interest in letting Sri Lanka through to the semi-finals via the back door. They couldn’t even make it seem not too obvious that they were throwing the match, what with Andrew Strauss leading the way with a duck. And New Zealand prolonging the misery of every Sri Lankan who tuned into the match by throwing away a few wickets towards the end.

Giving hope is the worst form of giving!

Turning to my blog reader, I find that Ducking Beamers has already made the point:

Pakistan fans will root for a victory against Australia, but in doing so, they will inadvertently root to increase India’s chances. Meanwhile, Indians will tune in for, of all things, a Pakistan victory. It’s a real cumbaya moment, but I’d hate just to mock it. This is the fun of sport, when love for the game supersedes even 60 years of mutual hatred — if only for a match against the White Man.

Meanwhile, I am waiting for Arm Ball to root for Pakistan tomorrow after writing this dreck:

Losing to Pakistan is a shame anywhere. We wont mind losing to Kiwis or Windies or even England, but no losing to Pakistan.

Two Pakistani pairs – one batting (Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Yousuf) and one bowling (Saeed Ajmal and Shahid Afridi) – did most of the work today. The Malik-Yousuf double century partnership took the match away from India at a time when Pakistan was on the backfoot (65/3). Yousuf deserved a ton for his effort.

India should have applied more pressure at the beginning of that long partnership. Bowling Kohli was a joke. A couple of more wickets at that juncture could have resulted in a target around 200. Dhoni did not seem to be thinking very clearly.

The batting was better and India could have probably achieved a target that was some 30 runs smaller. But the run-outs didn’t help. Plus the fact that Rahul Dravid stayed there instead of Sachin Tendulkar probably sealed the result of the match. You can make a case that an India with Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag may have overhauled that target and you may be right.

One last point which I have been harping on for sometime: Dhoni’s floating position. I don’t think it affected today’s result, but why does he keep shuffling the batting order between him and Suresh Raina? Not to say his weird tendency to come in at No. 3 if there is a platform.

India and Dhoni have to stop with this “flexible” batting order stupidity. It is a low percentage tactical move and the only person it seems to be benefiting is Dhoni. Take a look at his scores in the last several matches where he has promoted himself to No. 3.

But at this moment in time, we know that is not really true. After three consecutive crushing victories in the last two one-dayers and the T20 match, Pakistan will return home, if not happy, at least in reasonably good spirits. Because in a sense, Pakistan has been playing against themselves in this tour.

Let us call them Serious Pakistan and Sleepy Pakistan. When Sleepy Pakistan played, they had spectacular batting collapses, inept fielding and toothless bowling. When Serious Pakistan played, they were unplayable. Unfortunately, Sleepy Pakistan dominated much of the tour until Serious Pakistan got going in the final matches.

Exactly the same thing can be said for Sri Lanka in reverse. But luckily for them, they didn’t get to sleep tightly until the tail end of the tour. But when they did, they were routed like minnows.

In the final analysis, Sri Lanka only benefited from a high-level reading of the series results. If you look closer, they were very close to losing 0-2 or even 0-3 in the Test series and also losing the ODI series. The usual suspects made runs. Mendis disappeared as a future bowling threat. The fast bowlers did well, but we will see how they perform in the long run.

It has been a see-saw series. But I suspect it has to do more with inconsistency than the strengths of either team. Compare it with the 2003/04 series by India in Australia. That was a series between two well-matched and in-form teams. In contrast, this series was about collapses and even more collapses.

Take a look at Pakistan’s scores: 196 all out, 168 all out, 288/8, 321/5 and 279/8. From miserable batting performances to formidable scores.

Take a look at Sri Lanka’s scores: 232/9, 169/4 (chase), 289/4 (chase), 175 all out and 147 all out. From so-so to controlled chases to collapses.

The other side of the coin is the bowling. The Sri Lankans who bowled out Pakistan for 168 could not restrict them from crossing 321. And same for the Pakistan bowlers who allowed Sri Lanka to chase 288, but in the last match bowled them out for 147.

I don’t care much for series like this. The victories and defeats are so random. The results defy any pattern. Few players have been consistent in this series. It is almost as if both teams are sleepwalking through the series, with some players waking at times, doing their stuff and going back to sleep.

This victory will do wonders for Sri Lanka that they can win games even when their fortunes are looking hopeless. In both the Tests, I had written off Sri Lanka, but they came roaring back. I said that Herath would not repeat his feat and then suddenly he pulls another one out of his hat. Once again, the under-rated players of the Sri Lankan team perform when they need them.

This is a good opportunity for Sri Lanka to build upon its victories and try to sneak up on the Big Three (Australia, South Africa and India). The Sri Lankans have been playing well overseas, not losing any series to the other Test teams, but they have not yet been able to break out and score series victories. They are somewhat in the same situation as India in the 90′s, very strong at home, but weaker abroad. But in defense of Sri Lanka, they are doing well against the other Test teams, just not against the Big Three.

But the series victory should not make Sri Lanka complacent. They could have easily been 0-2 down. They have several non-performing members of their team. In 2 Tests, only one SL batsman’s average has crossed 40. Of course, it has been a bad time for batsmen of both teams, but still. Also, the fact that Mendis has only 5 wickets from two Tests at 43.40 (where Pakistan collapsed) raises a big question mark about Mendis. When Murali comes back, will the Lankans go with more spinners or will they drop Mendis in favor of Herath?

Back to Pakistan. They will be disappointed that they are not leading the series now. But they have given the Lankans a run for their money and hopefully, they will have some good things coming out of this tour.

The Sri Lankan bowlers bowled out Pakistan for 90 in the first innings. In the second, they have taken 1 for 178. What happened to their form? Did they forget to get batsmen out? How did the Sri Lankan batsmen who were in control yesterday slump so badly the next day, collapsing in a heap?

The truth is that the Sri Lankan team hides a lot of mediocrity behind good teamwork. They have a couple of great batsmen and one great bowler. But anytime they fail, the mediocre members chip in with big performances and win matches. A good example is Herath (average: 36.21 in 15 Tests) in the first Test. It is unlikely he will ever repeat his best Test figures, but he won a match for Sri Lanka when everything looked hopeless.

Or Dilshan. He was their mainstay in the World Twenty20 scoring four fifties, but before that, his highest score in 10 innings was 38. Or Angelo Mathews. He took 2 wickets in 4 matches before he took three wickets in the first over of the West Indian innings. Or Kulasekara who took 4/21 in the first innings – His bowling average before this Test was 59.55.

The point is that when you play against the Sri Lankans, you not only have to worry about Sangakkara, Jayawardene and Murali (the greats), but also each of the weaker Sri Lankan batsmen and bowlers who, for whatever strange reason, start producing the best innings or spell of their lives when Sri Lanka is in trouble.

While this has mostly worked for Sri Lanka for sometime now, it is also dangerous in the long run. It allows players who produce random good performance to remain in the team while blocking those who could be more consistent. It prevents Sri Lanka from mounting a serious challenge against Australia or the top tier teams while touring.

Another problem I keep pointing about for Sri Lanka is some of their players are in the team with inflated averages from a few series. For example, note how the averages of the batting order drops when you remove Bangladesh and Zimbabwe from the equation. Samaraweera and Dilshan don’t look so good.

You can also find a similar pattern with Mendis, whose reasonable-looking average is purely because of his debut Test against Bangladesh and the series against India at home. Not counting the current Test, he has an average of 59.50 since then. We will see how long he lasts.

There is not much to say, really. This is similar to the West Indian victory in their first home Test against England. One good spell by Taylor and West Indies won the match.

I don’t like these kind of matches. Sri Lanka did not do anything much to win it and Pakistan just threw it away. This is somewhat like cheating the fans. If you want to lose, don’t raise hopes to deceive.

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.