http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ajantha-c42419 Mendis wrecks Indian batting on day two of tour game
It was Ajantha Mendis’ turn to make a statement to the Sri Lankan selectors after Upul Tharanga had had his say the day before. The spinner, who is not part of the Sri Lankan squad for the first upcoming Test against India, showed his class, wrecked the Indian batting and returned with figures of 6/67 at the end of the second day of the tour game between the SL Board President’s XI and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750.
India started brightly, picking up four wickets in the first session, Pragyan Ojha getting a five-for, but the BP XI score had crossed 500. The Indian openers, who had to see off six overs before lunch, looked more than comfortable. However, the second session did not turn out to be as good as the first. Virendar Sehwag was out in the first over after lunch and his departure started a flurry of wickets.
India then lost http://www.senore.com/Cricket/VVS-Laxman-c2772 in the next 12 overs, with Mendis getting Tendulkar and Laxman.
In came Yuvraj Singh, who had lost his place in the One Day set up and who looked to view this as an opportunity to show that he had not lost his batting prowess. He began well and was impressive against the spinners, Mendis in particular.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Gautam-Gambhir-c58623 who had looked edgy during the collapse of the middle order, saw his pressure ease as Yuvraj was scoring at a healthy rate.
The Yuvraj of old was back as he scored an array of shots all around the wicket and was at ease while clearing the boundaries. The Indians ended the second session strongly with both batsmen getting to their half centuries and for the first time in the game, India were dominant, albeit for a brief period. The most important thing for India was that the two of them looked in utter control against Mendis who had troubled the earlier batsmen.
India falters
Gambhir, however missed out on his century, looking to play too many attacking shots. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MS-Dhoni-c2028 was next in, but he too went quickly, caught at leg gully. This exposed the tail to Mendis and he had Amit Mishra immediately. Yuvraj reached a well deserved century and was still continuing to dominate.
But he was affected by cramps soon after that and got out to an off break, which he missed completely. The next two got out to Mendis without much on the board and the Indian innings came to an end after only 64.2 overs. The Indians were not asked to follow on and the Indian bowlers were about to come again, having only left the field early in the first session. However, bad light stopped play and put an end to the Indian miseries at least for the time being.
Indian batters need to do better
If yesterday was a day to worry about the bowling, today was about the batting woes. It is clear that India are dependent on their batting line up as the bowling attack looks depleted and out of sorts. But it was the batsmen’s turn to look out of sorts, Yuvraj being the exception. Even Gambhir, who made 89, had three lives before he had crossed 30. Laxman was troubled by Mendis while Dhoni and Sehwag were out to soft dismissals. This will not be enough in the Test series proper.
Mendis, though among the wickets, was impressive only in patches. However, he has done no harm to his chances of getting picked for the second, or for that matter even for the first Test. Ranjit Fernando, the Sri Lankan selector, said yesterday that Mendis was a precious commodity and had to be used in an optimum manner.
Mendis indeed is precious and after this performance, the glamour of playing him along with Murali for one final Test will start to look appealing for the Sri Lankan selectors.
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