The Hindu : Sport : Lanka-India ODI series could prove as engaging as CB Series

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Lanka-India ODI series could prove as engaging as CB Series

S. Ram Mahesh

Dhoni’s and Jayawardene’s style of captaincy suits this format particularly well

— PHOTO: AFP

AN ASSET: In Tillakaratne Dilshan, the Sri Lankan side has a valuable wild card in the middle overs.

Dambulla: For some time now, the scourge of the limited-overs cricket format has been its homogeneity — a quality magnified by the sheer number of One-Day Internationals stacked together, as if greying crates in a storehouse.

With the next series indistinguishable from the last, the truly great contest is often lost in the shuffle. The definition of the truly great contest has been subjected to revision as well, as what was once a novelty act turned a staple. Unfortunately, the administrators sided with the batsmen — no new occurrence this — and the only limits the 50-overs format pushed were those involving run-making.

But as they say in the entertainment industry, it happens in cycles — the old becomes the new. With Twenty20 undercutting the modern one-day game, packing more into less, the space for combat with more traditional rules of engagement opens up.

The last conclusively entertaining one-day tournament was the tri-series in Australia, where the contest between bat and ball, in a throwback to earlier times, wasn’t unfairly weighted. The larger grounds, the varying conditions, and the increased assistance for the bowlers invested run-scoring with meaning, with legitimacy.

In a subtly different sense, the coming five-match series between India and Sri Lanka, scheduled to get underway here on Monday, appears as if it may channel the spirit of the CB Series earlier this year.

It’s a competition of two parts — the first comprising two matches in three days here at the Rangiri Dambulla Stadium, and the second containing three day-night games, marginally better spaced, at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.

Both venues, receptacles of low, slow playing strips, are notorious for how grudgingly they give up their runs. Indeed, they stopped playing day-night games here because the ball began to seam mysteriously and alarmingly under the lights. As a spectacle, the series might not compare with the one in Australia, where the presence of bounce guaranteed rousing action. But it could prove as engaging — full of hard-fought, low-scoring contests that aren’t decided by the execution of just one set of skills.

All this is written of course at the risk of romanticising and double-guessing the series. It may well turn out to be one-sided and irredeemably boring. But it has possibilities. Both M.S. Dhoni and Mahela Jayawardene are ingenious captains; their style of inspired fiddling suits this format particularly well.

Power Plays

The distribution of the Power Plays, a token decision in most places around the world, assumes greater significance when runs are at a premium. Jayawardene is a past master at holding back segments of field restrictions on slow surfaces, so he can use them to attack by creating pressure when the ball goes soft. Dhoni will do well to consider this tactic. But holding back the Power Plays isn’t as straightforward as it once was. The compulsory ball change after 34 overs has altered the equation. It adds another layer to the tactical joust: the positioning of batsmen who can best utilise the benefits of a harder ball can turn a match.

Dhoni, who often uses himself as a floater in the batting order, is alive to this theory; Sri Lanka, which tends not to alter structure while batting, isn’t as flexible, although in Tillakaratne Dilshan the side has a valuable wild card in the middle overs.

The primary narrative, however, will involve Muttiah Muralitharan, Ajantha Mendis and the Indian one-day batting unit. At the cost of generalising, the defining questions are these: Will bravado and verve succeed where experience and undue caution failed? And does the middle order have the skills required? The answers will decide if the ODIs go the way of the Tests.

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