With Test cricket back on the radar, it is important the number one Test side in the world is motivated in the mind and makes the best use of available resources. Back in 2008, India lost a Test series to Sri Lanka 1-2, completely done in by the spin of Ajantha Mendis and Muthiah Muralitharan. Since then Mendis has been worked out, the carom ball is now dispatched with consummate ease to all corners of the park by a potent Indian top order and Murali is now only a shadow of the bowler he was in 2008. The rip isn?t there anymore and the doosra is now well read from the hand by the Indians.
Finally, Sachin Tendulkar has reinvented himself as an international batsman since and is now scoring Test centuries as and when he likes. If all of this points to India?s potency as the number one Test side in the world, the bowling, barring Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh appears thin. Ishant Sharma and Sreesanth haven?t done anything in the interim to inspire confidence and Pragyan Ojha, despite his IPL heroics, has much to prove in the Test arena.
More than the batting it will be India?s support cast in bowling that will decide the outcome of the series.
Playing lead supporting actor will be Sreesanth. A fantastic comeback against the Sri Lankans last November at home, his main strength is his ability to swing the ball and land it on the seam at will. Having made the necessary mental adjustment, Sreesanth certainly has the ability. Whether he has the consistency will be tested as he takes the new ball with Zaheer Khan in Sri Lanka.
In the little domestic cricket he has played, hardly of consequence though, he has been clobbered by un-fancied batsman with little reputation. In the final of the Sheeshmahal tournament for example he went for some 30 in his two overs and lost Sahara the match. While he maintains that he now hits his bed by 10.30 pm, an instruction from Sachin Tendulkar, he hasn?t shown the same discipline in his bowling. While Sreesanth is a worry, Ishant Sharma is the biggest let down of recent times. Till only a year back, in November 2008, he knocked over the Australians in India winning the man of the series award with 15 wickets. While knowing full well that all players go through a bad run of form, Ishant?s has come a tad too early in his career for his liking. There is little doubt that he has the ability and is still touted as the one to take over the mantle from Zaheer Khan in due course. But it is surely a worry that the swing and the bounce that made Ishant a feared bowler have deserted him completely.
In such a scenario we have to back the two proven match winners, Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh. Khan, on his day, is the best exponent of swing bowling in the world and is a top draw Test match bowler. Unlike in the shorter formats, he is at his best in cricket?s toughest format and leads the Indian attack with confidence and venom. His fantastic spell at the Eden Gardens against South Africa in February after the Proteas had raced off to a great start helped demonstrate his ability and penchant for a fight.
Despite getting injured on day 4, it was Khan who set up the series squaring victory. If Zaheer had set up the match, Harbhajan finished it. A true champion, the Sardar at the Eden Gardens is something phenomenal. Trapping Morne Morkel lbw with minutes of the match remaining he roared like only he can. 35000 plus Eden Gardens fans roared with him. While he will not get the crowd support in Sri Lanka there is enough motivation for the Sardar to take on the Sri Lankan spin twins. He has more often in the past lost this duel to Murali and it is his time to set the records straight. He surely has the ability and the mentality, it is now time he plays his part to perfection on the day. And finally comeback man Yuvraj Singh is perhaps playing the series of his life. Having met and spoken to him recently I?d say the selectors are spot on in giving him another opportunity. He is a champion and is itching to come to the party. All in all a mouth watering series is in prospect despite the growing monotony of India Sri Lanka matches.
?The writer is a cricket historian