The Hindu : A commanding performance

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 12, 2003

Sport

Sport - World Cup

A commanding performance

By K. Srikkanth

It was a commanding performance by the Indians. The confidence level is high in the side and this showed on the field of play.

Indeed, the body language of the Indians was positive and they quickly moved in for the kill after posting a rather formidable total. The Lankans were simply brushed aside at the Wanderers.

When a side has four of its top five batsmen dismissed for zeroes, it hardly stands a chance, and all credit to Javagal Srinath for a blistering opening spell. He sliced open the Lankan top-order and to me, the match as a contest, was over at that point. The Lankans were nowhere in the picture after Srinath's strikes.

Srinath is bowling at the peak of his powers, landing the delivery at the right spot and making every ball count. He is giving so little away early on, that the pressure builds on the batsmen.

He is still sharp enough to make the batsmen hurry their strokes and add this to his ideal line and movement — the one that he gets to straighten or dart away slightly from the right-hander is proving to be lethal — and it is easy to see why he has been so successful in this tournament.

The off-cutter being his strength, Srinath was always a handful for the left-handers, but is a lot more effective against the right-handers too these days.

The spearhead of the Indian pace attack has received more than adequate support from two young left-armers — Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra, both of whom have displayed a lot of heart and commitment.

All along many had believed that batting was India's strong point, however, it has become clearly evident in this tournament that the side's bowling has teeth too. The Indian pace attack performed the demolition job against the Englishmen and this time, the Lankans were on the receiving end.

Sachin Tendulkar had produced a brilliant innings earlier in the day and though he missed a hundred by a whisker, that fact that he managed to beat his own record for the highest number of runs in a single World Cup must make every Indian proud. This man is a National Treasure.

Virender Sehwag too seems to be running into form at the right moment and this Indian team is clearly peaking. The side has booked its place in the last four, and whichever side takes on Ganguly's men in the semfinals will have its task cut out.

Jayasuriya's decision to field was questionable considering the pitch appeared batsmen friendly. However, his decision could have been influenced by the fact that he had only two bowlers in Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitharan who could trouble the Indians and, that is hardly adequate when you are defending on a good pitch.

The Lankan captain had more faith in his side's batting, but it was a day when the Lankan batsmen came and left in a hurry.

With Sachin Tendulkar and Javagal Srinath firing in batting and bowling, the Indians are on a roll. They will be hard to beat.

www.kris-srikkanth.com

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