Dav Whatmore National Coach For the third home series in succession it’s 1-1 after the first two Tests,when it could so easily have been 2-0 to Sri Lanka
Dav Whatmore27-Aug-2001Dav Whatmore
National CoachFor the third home series in succession it’s 1-1 after the first two Tests,when it could so easily have been 2-0 to Sri Lanka. No time for regrets,though, as we have a chance to win the series once and for all in the finalTest in Colombo.The turning point in Kandy was undoubtedly the third morning. We had startedthe day well placed, on 55 for one with a lead of 94, but our grip on thegame was loosened, as we lost four wickets for 72 runs in the morningsession. Then, in the afternoon, Venkatesh Prasad finished off the jobstarted by Zaheer Khan in the morning.It’s hard to put the finger on what exactly went wrong. India did bowl well.They bowled a consistent line and length and extracted surprising movementfrom the wicket, which put our batsmen under considerable pressure. Thewickets were falling, but the runs weren’t flowing and that is always goingto lead to strife. Even so, individual batsman didn’t play with theresponsibility that was demanded. It was almost as if they expected theothers to do the job.There were other important moments earlier in the game too. On the firstday, when we lost two wickets just before lunch, to throw away an excellentmornings work. Then, on the second day, when we let Harbhajan Singh smack 42quick runs and significantly reduce their first innings deficit. Theselittle moments contributed, but it was the second innings batting that lostus the game.Muttiah Muralitharan did his best to save us with that fantastic innings,just when we needed it most. He has always had good hand-eye coordination,but he used his brains too, selecting which deliveries to hit and cleverlyfarming the strike, so that Ruchira (Perera) was not overly exposed. He wasalso paid the biggest compliment that anyone has ever been paid to him as abatsman by Sourav Ganguly, who opted to post all his fielders on theboundary. It’s a real shame that we weren’t unable to pull off a win for himafter his heroics.We always wanted to post a higher target than 264. The pitch had heldtogether well and was much easier to bat on the fourth day than when we hadplayed England and South Africa. Nevertheless, we felt that the game wouldbe close and we expected it to go right down to the wire.We were unlucky. Both on the third evening when Chaminda (Vaas) was swingingthe ball around and could so easily have nipped out one or two. Then, on thefourth morning, Muttiah Muralitharan was not properly rewarded for the skillhe displayed. You can only feel sorry for the poor guy. During his last fiveTests, played against England in March and India now, he can rightfullyclaimed to have taken 15 more wickets than have been recorded.Fortune aside, Dravid batted exceptionally. He held India together and wasboth confident and positive. He also ran well between the wickets. He is theone player that stands out from that team, as being really special. We haveto take his wicket early at the Sinhalese Sports Club.In the aftermath of defeat it is important to not make rash conclusions.Wait for the emotions to blow over and then analyse the situation coolly.The fast bowlers did not bowl at their best on the last day, but you cannotbe too harsh on them. Apart from Chaminda (Vaas), they have only played ahandful of Tests and need greater experience.The new look formation with a greater emphasis on fast bowlers isundoubtedly the way forward for Sri Lanka, but it is going to take time forthe philosophy to work consistently. Individual players, and the team ingeneral, need to become more accustomed to the system. We have to persevere.Yes, we did lose, but not because of the fast bowlers – the game turned inour second innings. We now have to make sure that we don’t make the samemistakes again.