Lara Is Retired,But Murali is Still There..

Sri Lanka had the double advantage with the absense of Brian lara & the presence of Murali

A couple of days ago,the first test between Sri Lanka and West Indies got over-with Sri Lanka winning the contest by 121 runs.Well the result was all the most expected keeping in mind the recent(Four years down the lane) debacle and the retirement of batting great Brian Lara.This helped the Sri Lankan team relish their long awaited dream of winning a test series in the West Indies.On the previous two tours that I've come across involving West Indies and Sri Lanka,the Sri Lankan dream was left unfullfilled,thanks to some brilliant batting display from Brian Lara-who put up a score of 209 in the first and an unbeaten 80 in the second test at Kingston to win the test by 7 wickets and with it the series in 2003.Also not to mention the superb bowling of Corey Collymore-who picked up 14 wickets in that series.Murali's magic was never found to work then.And in 1997 West Indies won by the same margin 1-0,with Lara scoring 115 in the 2nd innings of the 2nd test to see the test end up in a draw.Muralitharan's 16 wicket tally in that series was found not to contribute for the team's sake.

But,atleast now Sri Lanka have got what they were looking for.A test series win on the West Indies soil!And it was not only Murali but a team effort,with contributions coming from the blades of Warnapura and Jayawardane-each one of them putting up a century.And at last,A 5-wicket haul by Chaminda Vass.

At the end,I would like to say that West Indies missed Brian Lara this time,with Murali's presence being a advantage for Sri Lanka.The teams would rather the less be balanced had Murali not been in fro Sri Lanka.