Sri Lanka Off The track?

Well it looks like the Sri Lankan cricket team is not too much satisfied with this current tour of Zimbabwe.And that is very much obvious, given that their not only recent, but also their overall track record in international cricket has not been on par even against minnows,far from being on par with the other test playing nations.I wish it was a punishment for the Sri Lankan players to go and play Zimbabwe there.In fact touring Zimbabwe would have been a nightmare for these players I suppose.As it is for us viewers to watch a match between Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka also for television channels to telecast the same.Anyway, it is not Sri Lanka's problem as such.And how can one expect one to be?

The first thing that was evident from this tour was when it came in dropping its key players like Sanath Jayasuriya and Chaminda Vass who have had enough from the matches involving Zimbabwe and Bangladesh.But,it is really a wonder that the Sri Lankan Cricket chose to go with Muttiah Muralitharan and Kumara Sangakkara.Of course Mahela Jayawardane is needed for the sake of captaincy.I guess that the Sri Lankan Cricket as well as Muttiah Muralitharan's fans want to see their hero going past Pakistan's Wasim Akram to claim his 500th one day wicket as soon as possible.His wicket tally in one day internationals now stands at 490 scalps from 318 one day games.And probably, Sri Lankan Cricket does not want to risk the place of a keeper by going for some lesser known names.

In the first one day international,Sri Lanka batted for 33 overs to get a modest total of 127, at an average of 3.9 rpo compared to zimbabwe's 4.09 rpo, wherein even if one goes by a run-rate of 6.0 an over, the target should have been attained in just above 22 overs.And in the second one day, Sri lankans just smashed the Zimbabweans,first by getting them all out for 67 and chasing the same in a7 overs, losing just 1 wicket.Still not satisfactory?It was Mendis all the way, who is likely to become another Murali for Sri Lanka.And, in the third one day match, it looked like the Sri Lankans were all exhausted in this boring encounter,for they became all-out, for a score less than 200, to fecilitate the Zimbabwe team, so that they carry home atleast one victory.But,no..

If Sri Lanka get bowled out for less than 200,Zimbabwe get all out even before that.It is the reverse of a team scoring 300+ and the team batting second crosses even that.Once again, Sri Lankan dreams were shattered.Drawing some lessons from the third one day match, Sri Lanka now decided to lose by batting second, by losing wickets in quick succession.But,Zimbabwe batsman spoil even that.As many as eight wickets are lost by the Sri lankan team batting second.Plans change in the fifth one day as the Sri Lankan team settles for just 150 on board.But, Zimbabwe are real champions in losing the game.And this time they once again went on to prove the same, by getting themselves all-out for 133.Thus, Zimbabwe attain their goal, by losing to Sri lanka 5-0.Well..it was only after this series that I came to know that even losing is as difficult as winning.