One-sided defeat against spinners on flat track marks a new low for India

MUMBAI: There have been lower scores and bigger margins of defeat, but the rout in the first Test against Sri Lanka might represent India’s worst cricket display ever. The much-touted batting line-up folded up twice in under two days, which may still not have seemed horrific if this had not come against spinners and on a dead-as-a-dodo track on which the home team had scored in excess of 600 without getting bowled out.

Coming on the heels of the defeats in the Three-Nation tournament in Dhaka followed by the Asia Cup final in Karachi, this suggests an alarming slump in form and performance of a team which till four months ago was not just the toast of the country but the entire cricket world. Remember also, that the Indian team had failed to beat South Africa at home prior to the IPL, the series drawn 1-1, but the honours clearly with Graeme Smith’s team. Some areas of concern about the form and fitness of players had emerged during the SA series, only to be submerged in the hurraying and self-congratulations over the staging of the IPL, followed by controversies on when, who and how to stage the next money-spinning T-20 tournament.  Contd, p22

The comeuppance was inevitable, only it has come sooner than expected.
And yet, nobody would have bargained for this abject surrender at the SSC. The bowling was listless, the batting woeful, the catching dreadful. It would be puerile to suggest that the players were still in the T-20 mode; they weren’t. Instead, they were simply outclassed by a side that had enough balance and depth, a fine mix of youth and experience, and a silent but terrific desire to win.

India’s bowling lacked bite, and if that is attributed to the placid pitch, the flop show of the batsmen becomes even starker. Where four Sri Lankans made hundreds, there was only VVS Laxman’s half century in the first innings to show for pedigree in the Indian team. Between them, Sehwag, Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman and Ganguly have scored more runs than any other batting line-up in the world, but in this match they were made to look wretchedly nervous and vulnerable by the rookie mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis and the original `freak’, veteran Muttiah Muralitharan.

To say that these two bowled superbly is gainsaying the obvious. Where Kumble got none and Harbhajan huffed and puffed his way to two, the Sri Lankan spinners picked up a whopping 19 wickets between them. Only thrice in history have Indian batsmen fared so badly against slow bowlers, and remember this was a batsman’s paradise!
India’s batting was clearly dismal. While some bold statements had been made about Mendis, when it came to the crunch, the batsmen failed to read him, were afraid to use their feet, and were made to submit easily. Muralitharan is an acknowledged maestro.
Against batsmen who lacked self-belief, he became a killer. Once these two were allowed to establish a psychological stranglehold, there was to be no escape.

There are two Tests remaining still, so India are not out of the series. Against Australia and South Africa recently, Kumble’s team has shown the ability and resolve to come from behind. But it will require a Herculean effort from here to beard the Lankan lion in its own den.

Meanwhile, let’s have a lid on the brouhaha that has pervaded Indian cricket in recent months.