Perfect Time To Think Over

Well..it was as though like the saying that goes "All is well that ends well" after the second ODI against Sri Lanka at Dambulla on Wednesday.But,I feel it is the right time for Dhoni's men to think,for even a modest total in 142 was found to bother the Indian batsmen who lost 7 wickets at crucial times of the match, thus swinging the pendulum each and every moment they went out to bat and the Sri Lankans came in to bowl. This clearly shows that it was Sri Lanka who took home most of the honours of the match at the end of the day.I wish Sri Lanka would have made it to the record books for one of the lowest totals defended.

God knows as what was selectors plans were,when they had to force Dhoni to send in Irfan Pathan and Virat Kohli opening when there were the likes of Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly who were dropped along with injuries striking key players like Robin Uttappa,Sachin Tendulkar and Goutam Gambhir.Anyway,"KUDOS" to Virat Kohli for striking as many as 6 boundaries in the initial phase of his career. When much is being talked about the brilliant bowling of the Indian side,it is worth mentioning that if not for the likes of Zaheer Khan who took 4-21 by rattling the top order and Praveen Kumar (3-34),the rest were just there to do a formal job of completing the remaining overs.The remaining bowlers' economy read above 4.0 runs an over in comparison with the overall run-rate of 3.68 per over.

It would not have been a disappointment had the Indian team lost even the second encounter.The Sri Lankan bowlers gave away just 4 runs in wides and no-balls compared to 11 wides bowled by the Indian bowlers.It was the captain's knock that helped India see themselves through the match in addition to 27 year old debutant Badrinath who scored an unbeaten 27.

And this time, it was not the magic of Ajantha Mendis that made the Indian batsmen to bother much about.But,it was themselves to blame for their batting debacle.Full marks for Zaheer Khan for a stupendous first spell that sent back Jayawardane ,Sangakkara,Kapugedra and Chamara Silva.Sad that he didn't get a much deserved 5 wicket haul.At the end,it looks like the selectors have to stop trying too much experimenting with the batting order before they make fools out of themselves.