o really...?!

shared by straight point on Friday, November 20, 2009

look around and you will find many saying sri lankans were more desperate to win...

really...?!

to me desperation is when you don't even bother defeat as the price you will pay to push for a win...

other than that... it is a draw in test match... nothing more... nothing less...

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

nothing new in their approach, they are kings of negative test cricket. if they cant win, draw it or kill it.

Yawn!!

they kept on batting and batting. Instead at 250 or even 225 they could have declared and gone for some time to put some pressure on Indians.


Good lord, the record of not losing a test to them remains intact. it wud have been shameful for us to lose against them.

Soulberry said...

I think the Sri Lankan captain was unsure of his bowlers repeating the first innings act and doubted his own batsmen's ability in chasing down a target of 125-175 on a fifth day wearing pitch.

Otherwise, Sangakkara should have declared on 3rd day evening and put India into bat first thing on 4th day morning.

India haven't handled the first sessions of play well, except on the last day.

Two days would have been a burden...India would have gone to set a target and might have lost wickets in the bargain...anything could have happened.

Even if the game had then ended in a draw, then I would have understood the Lankans "taking positives" from the game, for they would have tried hard to win.

They underestimated India to their cost...India proved it wasn't a Zimbo, Bangladesh, or demoralized teams like Saffers, Pakistan.

Having said all that, India need to be kicked on their backsides for their own poverty of bowling and captaincy skills. They could well end up like B'desis and collapse in a heap.

If Kanpur turns, then Mendis and co will be a handful. The other equation - Bhajji+ Mishra isn't that strong unless they play to potential.

straight point said...

purna i am not sure whether they gave up or this was the best they could have produced given the circumstances...

straight point said...

sam...

this was first of the three test matches... lets say had they declared earlier and given six sessions to their bowlers to bowl india out and india still managed to draw this match... where that monumental effort would have left SL bowlers who are already thin on options...?

so at best they were calculative not desperate by any measure... :)

straight point said...

sb...

yes two days would have been luxury their bowlers could not afford...

regarding composition... i will be surprised if either of two pacer is not rested for the next match... both kinda dragged themselves on the field so bringing in sree preferably for ishant won't be bad idea...

as for spin option... i will give still persist with mishra and bring in ojha in place of bhaji to make attack more potent...

tho i know this is not going to happen... :)

raj said...

Ojha for bhajji. As if...
Now bhajji is dhoni's business partner, too. Dream on, straightpoint..

straight point said...

yes raj... now its a dream...

to confess i really want him to see lead team india sans yuvi and bhajji... i tell you he might surprise himself...

Unknown said...

Surely Sri Lanka can take positive's from the first test. They had India at 32/4 when the pitch had some ' life' and then when they got the chance to bat truly showed the nature of the pitch with their score.

Surely getting 750+ in the first dig on a tour is a positive. Not sure if any attack would have got a result on that pitch. Sangakkara realised that and decided to buffer himself with a big lead.

Like you had mentioned - declaring end of third day was fraught with risk of getting his bowlers totally ragged.

straight point said...

welcome dilip and thanks for your comment...

no doubt sri lanka carry some positives but along with it equal amount of frustrations as well...

the form of murli and not finishing the task... but the point was not about positives and frustrations...

the point was about desperation which is different thing altogether...

Nathan said...

Yeah, there didn't seem to be any fire in their bellies, any desire to win or bust. Sangakkara was far too cautious, hugely so, and it cost his team their chances. As long as he captain's like that, Sri Lanka will only ever eke out draws or lose matches.

straight point said...

yes nathan... for the all the aggressive sound bites he give to media... in nutshell he is basically a defensive captain... with a set plan... lets see if he surprises me in remaining two tests...

Ankit Poddar said...

sanga can give aggressve sound bytes and nothing more.

i was surprised with they not declaring on the third day, as even i was sure india would have found it difficult to bat two days!

guess, they wanted an innings win! aggressive cricket, would that be it?

straight point said...

innings win on this pitch...?

he might have been dreaming if at all he was... but yes he still has not done anything to suggest that he is aggressive captain... even against pakistan when he had chance to close the games he let it drift away... and won only coz pakistan collapsed regularly...

but then so is dhoni of late... :)

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