By B D Narayankar
It is always the batsmen who hog the limelight, particularly in a one-day game. Bowlers, on the flipside, get ignored. It happened in the India-Sri Lanka one-day-series decider at Visakhapatnam on Saturday.
More than the batsmen, the real winners of the match were the Indian bowlers. They could achieve what Sri Lankan bowlers failed to achieve. There was a purpose in their efforts to invite the Sri Lankan batsmen to go after the pitched-up balls around their off-stump. This was evident the way Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakarra and Mahela Jaywardene got out playing extravagant shots.
At one stage, Jayasuriya and Marvan Attapattu tonked Indian seamers mercilessly and it looked the visitors would set a target of 300 runs. But credit should go to Ajit Agarkar, Zaheer Khan and S Sreeshanth for keeping their cool and bowling to a plan.
Even Saurav Ganguly bowled a steady line and picked up an all-important wicket of Tilakratne Dilshan who built a partnership of 68 runs along with Chamara Silva at a time when Sri Lanka was struggling at 56 for four.
Sri Lankan seamers failed to take a leaf out of Indian bowlers. They were seen bowling all over the place and conceding wides and no-balls regularly in the initial stages of Indian innings. The very first over from Fervez Maharoof was a disaster conceding far too many extras.
They bowled short and gave enough room for the likes of Robin Uthappa and Virendra Sehwag, who murdered the Sri Lankan bowlers. Robin was delightful with his front-footed whacks on either side of the wicket treating Sri Lankan pacers like spinners – it was fantastic.
Not far behind were Punjab-da-puttar Yuvaraj Singh and Prince of Kolkata, who made merry out of Sri Lankan attack. Yuvaraj smashed a masterful 95 not out of 83 balls and Ganguly 58, who put on an unbroken 145-runs partnership to steer India to a seven-wicket win over Sri Lanka clinching the series 2-1.
It was a great sight to see Yuvaraj returning to form after his three-month absence with a knee injury. He batted like God. Such was his dominance that he smashed 22 runs, including four boundaries and a six, in Farvez Maharoof's last over to finish the match. Altogether he walloped 11 boundaries and three sixes in his sensational rip-roaring innings.
Last, but not the least, a word on Chamara Silva. It was purely because of his 107-run knock, the match wouldn’t have been that interesting. He came in the middle when Sri Lanka were reeling at 56 for four. Chamara showed signs of a great batsman, who applied his mind soberly and built not only his innings, but also crucial partnerships with Dilshan, Maharoof, Russel Arnold and Malinga Bandara, posting Sri Lanka to a decent 259 runs.
Chamara is a good thing to happen to the world of cricket, especially when it lost an illustrious cricketer Aravinda de Silva. His mannerisms -- the bow-legged stance, flamboyant cover drives and sweeps – speaks volumes of how close he resembles to Aravinda while batting.
India vs Sri Lanka, February 17, 2007, 4th ODI
Venue: Visakhapatnam
Toss: India elected to field
India won by 7 wkts and series 2-1
Man of the match: C Silva
Man of the series: S Ganguly
SCOREBOARD
Sri Lanka 259-7 (47) Runs Balls 4s 6s SR
M Atapattu b Sreesanth 19 37 2 0 51.35
S Jayasuriya c Ganguly b Agarkar 22 19 3 1 115.79
*M Jayawardene c Uthappa b Agarkar 7 8 1 0 87.50
K Sangakkara c Uthappa b Khan 1 2 0 0 50.00
C Silva not out 107 107 12 1 100.00
T Dilshan c Uthappa b Ganguly 28 44 3 0 63.64
R Arnold c Sreesanth b Sehwag 22 34 0 1 64.71
F Maharoof c Karthik b Khan 28 28 2 1 100.00
M Bandara not out 5 6 0 0 83.33
L Malinga
D Fernando
Extras: 20 ( b:0 lb:3 nb:3 w:14)
Total: 259-7 (47) Curr. RR: 5.51
FOW: S Jayasuriya (42-1, 7.4), *M Jayawardene (50-2, 9.1), K Sangakkara (52-3, 10.1), M Atapattu (56-4, 12.1), T Dilshan (124-5, 26.2), R Arnold (165-6, 36.2), F Maharoof (229-7, 44.2)
India O M R W Nb Wd RPO
Z Khan 10 2 54 2 1 1 5.40
A Agarkar 10 1 52 2 0 3 5.20
S Sreesanth 8 1 46 1 2 0 5.75
Harbhajan Singh 9 0 48 0 0 2 5.33
S Ganguly 6 0 29 1 0 1 4.83
V Sehwag 4 0 27 1 0 3 6.75
India team: Z Khan, A Agarkar, S Sreesanth, Harbhajan Singh, S Ganguly, V Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, R Uthappa, *R Dravid, D Karthik, M Dhoni,
Powerplay 1: 1-10 ovs, 2: 11-15 ovs, 3: 16 - 20 overs
India 263-3 (41) Runs Balls 4s 6s SR
V Sehwag run out (Sangakkara) 46 44 7 0 104.55
S Ganguly not out 58 74 3 3 78.38
R Uthappa c Jayasuriya b Maharoof 52 37 9 1 140.54
D Karthik c and b Fernando 1 9 0 0 11.11
Yuvraj Singh not out 95 83 11 3 114.46
*R Dravid
M Dhoni
A Agarkar
Harbhajan Singh
S Sreesanth
Z Khan
Extras: 11 ( b:0 lb:2 nb:1 w:8)
Total: 263-3 (41) Curr. RR: 6.41
FOW: R Uthappa (92-1, 12), D Karthik (106-2, 14.1), V Sehwag (118-3, 17.1)
Sri Lanka O M R W Nb Wd RPO
F Maharoof 6 0 60 1 1 5 10.00
L Malinga 9 1 54 0 0 2 6.00
D Fernando 9 1 56 1 0 0 6.22
M Bandara 4 0 37 0 0 0 9.25
T Dilshan 9 0 34 0 0 1 3.78
S Jayasuriya 2 0 10 0 0 0 5.00
R Arnold 2 0 10 0 0 0 5.00
Sri Lanka team: F Maharoof, L Malinga, D Fernando , M Bandara, T Dilshan, S Jayasuriya, R Arnold, C Silva, *M Jayawardene, M Atapattu, K Sangakkara,
Powerplay 1: 1-10 ovs, 2: 11-15 ovs, 3: 16-20 ovs
Eom\
It is always the batsmen who hog the limelight, particularly in a one-day game. Bowlers, on the flipside, get ignored. It happened in the India-Sri Lanka one-day-series decider at Visakhapatnam on Saturday.
More than the batsmen, the real winners of the match were the Indian bowlers. They could achieve what Sri Lankan bowlers failed to achieve. There was a purpose in their efforts to invite the Sri Lankan batsmen to go after the pitched-up balls around their off-stump. This was evident the way Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakarra and Mahela Jaywardene got out playing extravagant shots.
At one stage, Jayasuriya and Marvan Attapattu tonked Indian seamers mercilessly and it looked the visitors would set a target of 300 runs. But credit should go to Ajit Agarkar, Zaheer Khan and S Sreeshanth for keeping their cool and bowling to a plan.
Even Saurav Ganguly bowled a steady line and picked up an all-important wicket of Tilakratne Dilshan who built a partnership of 68 runs along with Chamara Silva at a time when Sri Lanka was struggling at 56 for four.
Sri Lankan seamers failed to take a leaf out of Indian bowlers. They were seen bowling all over the place and conceding wides and no-balls regularly in the initial stages of Indian innings. The very first over from Fervez Maharoof was a disaster conceding far too many extras.
They bowled short and gave enough room for the likes of Robin Uthappa and Virendra Sehwag, who murdered the Sri Lankan bowlers. Robin was delightful with his front-footed whacks on either side of the wicket treating Sri Lankan pacers like spinners – it was fantastic.
Not far behind were Punjab-da-puttar Yuvaraj Singh and Prince of Kolkata, who made merry out of Sri Lankan attack. Yuvaraj smashed a masterful 95 not out of 83 balls and Ganguly 58, who put on an unbroken 145-runs partnership to steer India to a seven-wicket win over Sri Lanka clinching the series 2-1.
It was a great sight to see Yuvaraj returning to form after his three-month absence with a knee injury. He batted like God. Such was his dominance that he smashed 22 runs, including four boundaries and a six, in Farvez Maharoof's last over to finish the match. Altogether he walloped 11 boundaries and three sixes in his sensational rip-roaring innings.
Last, but not the least, a word on Chamara Silva. It was purely because of his 107-run knock, the match wouldn’t have been that interesting. He came in the middle when Sri Lanka were reeling at 56 for four. Chamara showed signs of a great batsman, who applied his mind soberly and built not only his innings, but also crucial partnerships with Dilshan, Maharoof, Russel Arnold and Malinga Bandara, posting Sri Lanka to a decent 259 runs.
Chamara is a good thing to happen to the world of cricket, especially when it lost an illustrious cricketer Aravinda de Silva. His mannerisms -- the bow-legged stance, flamboyant cover drives and sweeps – speaks volumes of how close he resembles to Aravinda while batting.
India vs Sri Lanka, February 17, 2007, 4th ODI
Venue: Visakhapatnam
Toss: India elected to field
India won by 7 wkts and series 2-1
Man of the match: C Silva
Man of the series: S Ganguly
SCOREBOARD
Sri Lanka 259-7 (47) Runs Balls 4s 6s SR
M Atapattu b Sreesanth 19 37 2 0 51.35
S Jayasuriya c Ganguly b Agarkar 22 19 3 1 115.79
*M Jayawardene c Uthappa b Agarkar 7 8 1 0 87.50
K Sangakkara c Uthappa b Khan 1 2 0 0 50.00
C Silva not out 107 107 12 1 100.00
T Dilshan c Uthappa b Ganguly 28 44 3 0 63.64
R Arnold c Sreesanth b Sehwag 22 34 0 1 64.71
F Maharoof c Karthik b Khan 28 28 2 1 100.00
M Bandara not out 5 6 0 0 83.33
L Malinga
D Fernando
Extras: 20 ( b:0 lb:3 nb:3 w:14)
Total: 259-7 (47) Curr. RR: 5.51
FOW: S Jayasuriya (42-1, 7.4), *M Jayawardene (50-2, 9.1), K Sangakkara (52-3, 10.1), M Atapattu (56-4, 12.1), T Dilshan (124-5, 26.2), R Arnold (165-6, 36.2), F Maharoof (229-7, 44.2)
India O M R W Nb Wd RPO
Z Khan 10 2 54 2 1 1 5.40
A Agarkar 10 1 52 2 0 3 5.20
S Sreesanth 8 1 46 1 2 0 5.75
Harbhajan Singh 9 0 48 0 0 2 5.33
S Ganguly 6 0 29 1 0 1 4.83
V Sehwag 4 0 27 1 0 3 6.75
India team: Z Khan, A Agarkar, S Sreesanth, Harbhajan Singh, S Ganguly, V Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, R Uthappa, *R Dravid, D Karthik, M Dhoni,
Powerplay 1: 1-10 ovs, 2: 11-15 ovs, 3: 16 - 20 overs
India 263-3 (41) Runs Balls 4s 6s SR
V Sehwag run out (Sangakkara) 46 44 7 0 104.55
S Ganguly not out 58 74 3 3 78.38
R Uthappa c Jayasuriya b Maharoof 52 37 9 1 140.54
D Karthik c and b Fernando 1 9 0 0 11.11
Yuvraj Singh not out 95 83 11 3 114.46
*R Dravid
M Dhoni
A Agarkar
Harbhajan Singh
S Sreesanth
Z Khan
Extras: 11 ( b:0 lb:2 nb:1 w:8)
Total: 263-3 (41) Curr. RR: 6.41
FOW: R Uthappa (92-1, 12), D Karthik (106-2, 14.1), V Sehwag (118-3, 17.1)
Sri Lanka O M R W Nb Wd RPO
F Maharoof 6 0 60 1 1 5 10.00
L Malinga 9 1 54 0 0 2 6.00
D Fernando 9 1 56 1 0 0 6.22
M Bandara 4 0 37 0 0 0 9.25
T Dilshan 9 0 34 0 0 1 3.78
S Jayasuriya 2 0 10 0 0 0 5.00
R Arnold 2 0 10 0 0 0 5.00
Sri Lanka team: F Maharoof, L Malinga, D Fernando , M Bandara, T Dilshan, S Jayasuriya, R Arnold, C Silva, *M Jayawardene, M Atapattu, K Sangakkara,
Powerplay 1: 1-10 ovs, 2: 11-15 ovs, 3: 16-20 ovs
Eom\
