The Indian Oil Cup Tri-Series went as predicted. The Lankan lions went roaring all the way to beat India comprehensively in the finals. The Lankans are always a tough team to beat at their own backyard. They know their game so well. They are as familiar with the conditions as know one else is. Much to the dismay of Indian cricket fans they lost their nerves as usual in the crunch situation the final, when they were looking on course of an elusive victory.
The tournament saw west Indies fielding a second string side with all the major players out of the team with contract problems. Nearly Six players were new to the International arena. So the main clash was between the Men in blue and the host. The Indian to their woes were sorely missing the services of Sachin who was down with the elbow surgery. Dravid was captaining the side as Saurav was facing a six-match ban. The Indians were playing after a long lay off. They had a few new comers in the side, Suresh raina and Venu gopal rao.
After the league stages Indian had two wins against the Windies, Windies on their had a lone win over the lankans, while the lankans had three wins to their credit losing only once to the windies. The Indian looked totally out of sorts to say the least. They were under a new captain, a new coach, a new set of players and new strategies to try out. The Indians were experimenting with batting order and batting positions of the likes of yuvraj, Kaif, raina and laxman. Raina and Venugopal roa looked promising in the little that was seen of them. These two look like good prospects for the country. Laxman looked totally out of sorts and usual couldn’t make his feet moving. Sehwag was always in a hurry and never looked the player he was. His failure at the top proved very costly with absence of Sachin. Dhoni wasn’t doing anything good to him with reckless short selections. Dravid as time and again held the innings together at most of the situation with two fine half centuries during the league stage. The blowers did their part very well. Indians went on with three faster bowlers and a lone spinner harbhajan till the last league match. In both the matches against the lankans Indian paid the price for not having a fifth bowler with their opposition capitalizing on it.
The return of ganguly did no good for the side except for ceiling the controversy over the opener slot. After the Lankans totally dismissing the Indians in the league matches with the help of great innings from Jayawardene and jayasurya, they lost the match against the West Indies. This made the situation even more precarious for the Indians. They had to win the last match to enter the finals. The Indians started of badly but were saved by the young duo of Kaif and Yuvraj. The lanky left-hander getting a fine century with run a ball to his credit. It was fitting reply to his critics. If he gets more consistent with such sheer talent it will do a word of good to the team. Kaif playing an apt foil with an unbeaten 80 odd runs. A few fire works from Dhoni made sure Indians post a stiff target. The Windies lost their way losing six wickets for 150 runs fought back with great effort from Ramdin. They literally pulled of a great victory but the Indians pulled it off with some steady bowling.
The final hence saw the clash of the Indians and the Lankans. The Indians learning from the league matches fielded a side with 5 batsmen and 5 bowlers. The lankans won the toss, elected to bat first and were put in set with early losses of wicket. But Sanath Jayasurya who always relishes the Indian attack went on steadily. The few catches that were dropped did no help to Indians. Fortunately when he was setting his sights for a huge hundred brought his own downfall, running himself out. But Jayawardene and Russel Arnold carried on the good work and gave the Indians a stiff target.
The plan of playing five bowlers back fired as Kumble and Pathan going for plenty in their allotted over. Sehwag for once fired at the top of the order. He was at his murderous mood, scoring 48 of 22 balls. He took young pace bowler Lokhuthige for 26 runs in an over with 5 fours and one six. Then Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj put in a sensible partnership of more than 120 runs. With the Indian well within the reach and they were on course of a victory, they crumbled at the crunch situations. Muralitharan and Vaas bowled beautifully at the depth. The poor running between the wickets did not help the Indians too. They lost a number of wickets during the end and fell short of 15 odd runs. The lankans put the pressure right on the Indians with some clever bowling and planned game plan.
The Indians as seen on a numerous occasions just fell apart as a pack of cards. They need to improve their standard. They need more planning and application. With Saurav Ganguly back at the helm lets hope Indians get back to their winning days. Hope the Ideas of Greg Chappel gels well with the team and they form a formidable team. Hope that they dont break the hearts of millions of supporters watching the game keenly. Lets keep our fingers crossed and look ahead of a prospective future.