The Hindu : Sport : Jayawardene comes good

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Thursday, Aug 04, 2005

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Jayawardene comes good

Sanjay Rajan

India flatters to deceive

— Photo: V.V. Krishnan

GOOD COMEBACK: Sourav Ganguly came good with the bat on a difficult track, but failed to read this one from Chandana

DAMBULLA: The famed Indian huddle was finally on view — an indication that the Men in Blue were beginning to believe in themselves. For the first time in the IndianOil Cup tri-series, India looked like a winning unit on Wednesday. Only, Mahela Jayawardene pooped the party just when the Men in Blue thought victory was in the bag.

It is certain that the final would pit India and Sri Lanka. A win over a depleted West Indian line-up counted for little anyway.

India got the first part right and put up 220 for eight on the board, after opting to bat. A defendable total considering that the pitch at the Rangiri Dambulla Stadium was low and two-paced. It nearly got the second act right as well. With the three seamers striking early and young Suresh Raina effecting the run-out of Marvan Atapattu, India gained an early control over the contest. The visitor made further inroads when left-arm seamer Ashish Nehra had Russel Arnold leg-before and off-spinner Harbhajan forced Lokuhettige to edge behind. At 95 for six, Sri Lanka most certainly had its back to the wall. It was here that Jayawardene turned the contest on its head with a breathtaking innings of 94 not out. Upul Chandana (45 not out), Lanka's dependable soldier, kept the senior partner company in the match-winning stand of 126 in 133 deliveries which saw the host win by four wickets and maintain its winning streak.

Jayawardene was out early in the first two matches, but the stylish right-hander found his touch when it the mattered most. It was as much an innings of character as it was a display of stroke-play. Walking in at No. 4, Jaywardene, adjudged Man of the Match, saw the innings crumble around him, but proceeded to take control of the situation thereafter.

Slowly but surely, he took the battle to the opposition as India disintegrated under pressure. Finally the equation boiled down to 45 from the last 10 overs. At this point, Harbhajan proved expensive and the fielding left a lot to be desired. Dravid turned to the lanky speedster L. Balaji, but Jayawardene and Chandana were too well set to make a mistake. Jayawardene had a reprieve when on 9 with Harbhajan fumbling a run out opportunity.

India's show

Earlier, India's batting finally came good. Failure of the top-order has been a cause for concern for Dravid. But not this time, as Virender Sehwag and Sourav Ganguly provided the side the kind of start it was looking for — 67 from 94 deliveries.

Sehwag was dismissed early in the first two encounters. The Najafgarh blaster concentrated on occupation of the crease this time around, which was sensible considering that the pitch was low and two-paced. Sehwag had two early reprieves — both times to paceman Fervez Mahroof with Mahela Jayawardene at slip being the erring fielder on both occasions — but the punchy opener did not allow it to affect his concentration.

Ganguly's milestone

Ganguly, returning to international cricket after serving a four-match ODI ban, was tentative at the start. Runs came off nicks and edges for the left-hander, but he dug his heels in. At this point, Sehwag decided to shift gears, even as Mahroof rapped Ganguly on his pads a couple of times. Medium-pacer Pradeep Jayaprakashdaran, on debut, dismissed Sehwag, when the latter dragged in an away-going delivery. V.V.S. Laxman, playing in his first match of the tournament, took 12 deliveries to get off the mark. He nearly edged paceman Dilhara Fernando behind. Ganguly's first confident stroke was the step out lofted drive off Jayaprakashdaran to the fence, which took his personal score to 23. The run-rate steadily fell, but the idea was to retain wickets and give the charge in the end. Ganguly and Laxman put on 50 off 88 deliveries, before the latter was bowled, played-on to off-spinner Tillekeratne Dilshan. Laxman's exit set off a collapse, as Ganguly (bowled through the gate by Dilshan) and Dravid (leg before to Dilshan) fell in quick succession.

In the absence of Muralitharan, who was rested, Dilshan took over the mantle of the main spinner. He finished with four wickets off 10 overs, bowled in one spell. Dilshan came up with two astonishing caught and bowled efforts to dismiss M. S. Dhoni and Suresh Raina. Kaif came up with a gutsy 34 and Irfan Pathan propped up the total with a forceful undefeated 36 as India finished with 220 for eight, what would have been a winning score in these conditions.

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