Stellar performances

If you haven’t watched the India-Sri Lanka ODI series so far, our expert tells you what you’ve been missing.

Virender Sehwag is looking so good he could, as we sometimes say, bat with a toothpick. And once he puts that away, Tillekaratne Dilshan could pick it up and score runs with it! But the man who is carrying the broadest bat is still Sachin Tendulkar! Twenty years after he first played international cricket he has the hunger to give it all and at Cuttack, on a quixotic pitch, he paced his innings like a master. And he could do it because he knew that he could be there at the end. The ability to finish games is the real mark of a master and Tendulkar played like a master.

The Castrol Index rated Ravi Jadeja very high and there is no doubt he deserved the man of the match. But my eyes were on another cricketer who I believe is very gifted but who allows himself to be inconsistent. The grouse I have with Yuvraj is the grouse I have with Harbhajan and he showed his class by varying his pace. When he is relaxed and tossing the ball up and giving it time to do things, there are few spinners better than him in the game. His action means he will get bounce naturally but he is also a big turner and he got both right in this game.

Now both sides must show how quickly they can adapt, especially with the new ball. Currently it is vanishing faster than Usain Bolt and both teams need to figure out how to use it as an attacking weapon; or at any rate, to ensure that it doesn’t provide the opposition with the start they need. I hope Ishant Sharma sees this is as an opportunity on his learning curve and takes it up as a challenge. These are the little things that show how hungry a cricketer is.

Two games to play. Sri Lanka are still looking top heavy with the batting. They need one of Kandamby or Kapugedera to fire and their reserve bowling isn’t looking too hot. Their batting has too much to do and that is why I think India will be disappointed if they don’t win the series.