Sri Lanka comprehensively beat Bangladesh and in doing so put up their hand as one of the tournament's premier teams. They join Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand up at the top. Sri Lanka had the benefit of watching India flounder against Bangladesh and made sure not to meet India's fate.
Sri Lanka safeguarded their wickets, ran their singles hard, converted singles to twos, and generally outplayed Bangladesh in all departments. Bangladesh were not as tidy as they were against India and missed some easy run outs. When it came time for Bangladesh to chase 318 runs, they ran into Malinga, Vaas, and Murali. And that, as they say, was that.
Sri Lanka resoundingly beating Bangladesh makes it an easy equation for India: Beating Sri Lanka will see them through to the next round. That clarity brings with it another set of problems. Beating Sri Lanka will be hard. We don't think India has it in them to beat Sri Lanka at full strength. Sri Lanka looks very balanced and seem to have players for every situation whereas India is totally dependant on their batting for doing the heavy lifting and don't have the fire power to bowl out Sri Lanka.
That line of reasoning leads us to believe that India needs to pick 5 bowlers to stand a chance. Since, Rahul Dravid is not going to weaken his strong suit (batting), the only reasonable choice is to pick an "all rounder". Who gets dropped? Robin Uthappa.
Anyway, a good win for Sri Lanka and a bad day at work for Bangladesh.
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3 comments:
This World Cup is all about bowling. The Indian batting is awesome, albeit under par by its own standards. The spinning is obviously a strength, but, I am loathed to admit, these pitches need good seam bowling. In this regard, the Indians lack consistent penetration. Regardless of how many bowlers they have, this vulnerability will be exposed.
the atheist,
I disagree. I think we have among the better bowling lineups in this World Cup- the problem is about marshaling of resources.
Firstly the preference for four frontline bowlers instead of 5. Secondly, the utilization of the bits and pieces bowlers during the course of the game.
Thirdly- intent. Is the primary role of our bowlers to contain or get wickets? On a fresh wicket- do we underestimate the capability of our bowlers in choosing to bat first? Why are our bowlers an after thought?
Atheist,
If, as you say India's bowling is weak, then it is doubly important to have an extra bowler. If the team has 4 specialist bowlers and one of them has a bad day, we can kiss that match good bye.
Homer,
Yup. We need 5 bowlers. Which 5 though? Like Rumsfeld said while talking about Indian cricket: "You go to play with the team you have--not the team you might want or wish to have at a later time."
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