Route to Square...

Favourite Cover Drive...

Suresh Raina lofted Welegedera's delivery above the fence to end up with squaring the series. It was once again a LBW series for India. Not Leg Before Wicket but Lose Before Win. They lost their first match defying Murali's spin and Malinga's yorkers, drawn the second with an excellent debut century from Raina and masterful double centry from the Master himself, and won the third by nicely guided team performance and a saviourship century from Laxman. This series has digged out some batsmenship from Indian bowlers. Ishant, Ojha's kill time strokes, Mithun, Mishra's value adding runs are top hills for Indian batting though they have done underexpected contributions with the ball. Mithun seems to have some all rounding abilities. It would be nice if the board turnn its gaze on to him and bring him up.

What a victory Mahe!!!

But here once again Mahela Jayawardene gave some "Arnold's" kind of comment on India's aggression in the second test. He had written in Cricinfo that "I was disappointed. I thought they might go for an early declaration and make a game out of it, which they didn't. I think they are not as aggressive as a No.1 team should be...". He talked like he wanted a result with India declaring earlier. If Sri Lanka needed result they should have declared when they crossed 450, which they didn't. It seemed like they played the second test for centuries and records which was evened by our Master Sachin. He had also mentioned that they put a lot pressure on India forgetting how Sangakkara and Mahela's faces turned pale with Ishant and Ojha on crease trying to extend the defeat into draw. All I say is let India bat first and think they scored 500 up, then you will know who in the world is best at pressure building. At the end of the article he added "....as long as we know we have beaten a No.1 team in a test series. It would be a feather in our cap". What a contradictory mind. Beauty is that he paid well for his brainy thoughts in the third test. He couldn't do what a bowler Mendis had done in 2nd Innings. It was as if no Srilankan batsmen know how to bat in a Test Cricket. They scored more runs and made big partnerships in a dead pitch and were cut root down by new born spinners in a sub-continental pitch. What a pity......!!

Thats where I always hit...!!

On a whole the series ended up with 1-1 with India safely retaining its 

position and Sehwag getting both Man of the Match and Player of the Match. Hope for the best in the tri-series.