India at receiving end of dull draw
The tour game between India and Board President's XI in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 ended in a tame draw like most tour games do, but the damage had been done.
The Indian attack was weak and depleted and India have a lot to worry about their bowling combination. Questions still remain about Harbhajan Singh’s fitness and the new ball bowlers also have not been decided.
When Thilan Samaraweera decided not to enforce the follow on, it was clear that the idea was to give the batsmen another chance to have a go at the Indian bowlers and tire them.
The batsmen grabbed their chance and Lahiru Thirimanne became the fourth Sri Lankan to score a century in this game.
The left hander, who made his ODI debut against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 in January early this year, is part of the Test squad ahead of Upul Tharanga and Sanath Jayasurya, which is a big achievement by itself. He showed everyone why!
Thirimanne has had an excellent first class record this season, 709 runs in eight matches with an average of 59.08, which has led to his selection. He once again justified his selection by scoring a brilliant century today, after his impressive half century in the first innings.
Upul Tharanga started from where he had left off in the first innings, going after the bowlers right from the beginning. But his aggressive innings came to an end early, when Ishant Sharma got his first and only wicket of the game. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Dinesh-c54134 Chandimal came in early at number three and both, he and Thirimanne started going after the bowling.
Abhimanyu Mithun was targeted and he leaked many, which forced the entry of the spinners.
However, this did nothing to stop the Sri Lankans and Chandimal, in particular, was extremely aggressive. The runs flowed at a fair clip and the pair made 113 in 16 overs. Chandimal fell to Pragyan Ojha after making an entertaining and well deserved 69 off 56 balls, which had nine fours and four sixes.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Prasanna-Jayawardene-c82537 and Kaushal Silva were also promoted up the order but did very little to trouble the Indian spinners.
Jayawardene was out off the bowling of Virendar Sehwag, who bowled 16 overs in the day. Silva fell to Ojha, who bowled as well as he had in the first innings.
Thilan Samaraweera and Thirimanne progressed steadily and this slowed down proceedings. Thirimanne, who was Ojha’s third wicket of the day, departed after his century and soon after that Samaraweera fell to Mishra.
Thilina Kandamby and Sachithra Senanayake then added 15 runs in the next ten overs and when it was clear that the match was not going anywhere, both the captains decided to call the match off.
There were only 61 overs of action and the Sri Lankans made better use of it. Their ploy to unsettle the Indian bowlers before the start of Test series seems to have worked out perfectly.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ajantha-c42419 Mendis who is not part of the squad for the first Test made use of his chance and showed what he can do to the Indian batsmen.
India have huge problems with their bowling. They will be facing at least two of the centurions in the game in the first Test and will also be coming up against a batting line-up which has a wonderful record against them. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ishant-Sharma-c64566 will have a huge responsibility on his shoulders when he takes the new ball on the 18th. Mithun was not exemplary in this game, in fact, he was hardly steady and did not look threatening.
Ojha was much better in the second innings and seems to have done enough to cement a place in the team for the first test. Amit Mishra was not impressive, bowling long-hops and giving away too many runs. If Harbhajan is not fit enough for the first Test, India will have to try hard to hold on to its number one position.
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