I ask that of all my prey

When the Indo-Sri Lanka series began I had expected Ajantha Mendis's influence to diminish as the series progressed. At the end of the series and a resounding 26 wickets later, Mendis put paid to my prediction.

While his strike-rate (wickets per ball) diminished, his influence on the psyche of the Indian batsmen stayed put. Every batsman, bar Ganguly, had periods of time where it appeared they had sorted him out, but except for Sehwag none of them sustained it throughout their innings. Gambhir played him the best, followed by Sehwag, Tendulkar and Laxman. Dravid was completely clueless in the first two Tests, finally seeming to come to terms with the spinner in the last Test before succumbing (for the 4th time) to the carrom ball. Laxman got set in every innings of the series but got out everytime bar the final innings (5 times in all) to the carrom ball.

Here is how the Indian batsmen fared against Mendis (culled from a statistical analysis of the series on CricInfo).

Interestingly, the openers - Gambhir and Sehwag - (along with Laxman) were the ones who did best against him, and they were part of the ODI squad that collapsed in the finals of the Asia Cup!!

As a comparison, here is how Muralitharan was negotiated by the Indians. Laxman played him the best in the entire series and it is reflected in the stats.
Mendis showed that he has the tools to be a major force for years to come. His captain appears to know how to use him and, hopefully, he is able to keep the spinner's skills from diminishing. The presence of Murali as a mentor will, no doubt, help. When Sri Lanka next challenge Australia, it will be a true test of wills. Having observed Mendis closely, I expect him to do well against them, too.

Test cricket has found a new bowler to peg its hat on and it is splendid for the game. May he have a very successful career. I know I will be watching closely. Michel Aterton, former England skipper and a fast-rising columnist, certainly has his eye on him.

P.S. The flip side of the coin - India's middle order - appears more fragile than it ever has. The writing is on the wall. Unfortunately, the wrong persons are going to read it and exit the scene. When Australia comes around for a 4 Test series in September, it may even be a blessing that their premier bowlers are fast bowlers.

The bigger they are...

Far from learning the lessons of the first innings debacle, the famed Indian middle order went AWOL in the second innings in the face of some fantastic spin bowling by the Sri Lankans.

Once again, the two standout performers for the Indians were Tendulkar and Laxman, but this time only up to a point. Laxman was playing very well, reaching 21 with three fours when one splendid over from Mendis did him in. Two carrom balls were spun across the defensive prod. Those were just the set-up balls. The next one was on the same line, only this time it spun into Laxman, whose hurried backfoot prod was of no avail, the ball crashing into his back leg in front of the stumps. The fact that Mendis got him out twice in the Test match with similar deliveries should put a frown on his face. However, 77 high-quality runs in 144 balls showed that he deserves to be promoted to #3 while Dravid sorts out the glitches in his batting. Tendulkar looked serene while at the crease, picking up both spinners quite easily, but Murali's relentless accuracy and line of attack got to Sachin. A fuller ball on the leg-stump enticed a sweep that he missed completey, but on the follow-through the ball hit the back of the bat and lobbed to backward short-leg where Dilshan took a great catch.

After the first innings I had predicted that only two results were possible - a Sri Lanka win or a draw. Once Tendulkar and Laxman got out, it was a matter of time before the Sri Lankans ran through the rest of the line-up and a draw went out of the window. Compared to the first innings, the Indians tried a more aggressive approach in dealing with Mendis and Murali but it seemed more out of hope than knowledge of what the ball was going to do. Batsman after batsman played for the ball to spin one way and it went the other way.

A few years ago I had felt that getting this batting line-up all out twice in a Test match for less than 250 would not be possible. When they come to the crease, the TV screen gets filled up with amazing numbers - the number of Tests that have played, the number of runs they have scored, their career batting averages, the highest scores thay have made, etc. But all that is candy floss from the past. The future starts now.

More than Mendis, the Indians have to worry about Murali. With his round-the-wicket approach to the batsman he has increased his options of taking wickets and when the most lethal bowler in Test history does that, it is time to sit up and take notice. Getting to a 1000 Test wickets is going to simply be a matter of time for the Kandy-Man.

I can hardly wait for the next Test match to begin and the battle to resume. Fun times lie ahead. Too bad this is only a 3 Test series.

Trees in a forest

The hype before the India-Sri Lanka Test series was the potential battle between Ajantha Mendis and the "Big Four". I believe that, as the series progresses, Ajantha's threat will diminish once these batsmen get used to his bag of tricks. So it was with great interest I stayed up into the wee hours of the morning to watch Mendis bowl.

Before that transpired I got to see India's spinners - Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble - toil away on a seemingly innocuous pitch. We have all known that Kumble is not a big turner of the ball and he unfurled his bag of tricks but on a pitch where the ball was not bouncing too high, he was negated for the most part. The interesting aspect was watching Harbhajan bowl.

In his autobiography, John Wright talks about the fizz and bounce in Harbhajan's bowling when he first saw him. I don't see that any more. Instead I see a guy content to fire the ball in as fast as he can, afraid of giving up runs in the quest for wickets, and overly reliant on the doosra. His career graph is beginning to resemble that of Saqlain Mushtaq, another spinner who started with a bang, developed the doosra, became the first-choice spinner in ODI's, lost his loop and whose over-reliance on the doosra had Sehwag licking his chops at Multan.

However, the extent of Harbhajan's decline did not become evident to me until I saw Muralitharan at work on the very-same pitch. Ah! So that's how a bowler uses the doosra. It helps that Murali has an abnormal wrist that enables him to twirl that ball even more viciously but what was more revealing was his preferred line of attack. He bowled round the wicket to the right-handers and over the wicket to the left-handers, snaring both lefties in the process. His command over angles is incredible and even if a batsmen gets boundaries (Tendulkar, Ganguly, and Laxman had their share) it does not seem to impact the next ball. Harbhajan would do well to lock himself up in a room and watch Murali bowl all day. While the Indians (and the gushing, breathless commentators) were focussing on Mendis, Murali delivered a masterclass as if to remind people that he had a 735 wicket headstart on Mendis and everyone should remember that.

Mendis was impressive and troubled all the batsmen. But his command was not complete. Of the lot, Tendulkar played him very well, except for one leading edge. Before we wax poetic about that ball, do remember that every batsman struggles against every bowler for a ball or two no matter how benign the conditions. Tendulkar was very, very impressive. Aggressive in both defence and offence, he was playing very serenely, with a very impassive countenance, when he read the doosra from Murali but did not withdraw his bat quickly enough. The ball hit the bottom of the rising bat and was dragged onto the stumps. He looked in ominous touch and, if recent history is any indication, the runs will flow.

However, I am worried about Dravid and, to a lesser extent, Ganguly. Ganguly was reprieved by the third umpire on a challenged review - the call was 50-50 so the benefit went to him, and on another occasion was totally plumb LBW but the ball then deflected off his bat and the Sri Lankans did not even register an appeal. On both occasions, Mendis was the bowler. However, the worrisome part was the shocking way in which Dravid chose to play Mendis. Preferring to read him off the pitch, Dravid played Mendis exclusively on the backfoot and paid the price when his angled bat missed the ball to gift Mendis a very memorable and well-deserved maiden Test wicket.

Of the "Big Four" I anticipate that Dravid will be the first to hang up his boots. In the last three series since he relinqished captaincy, his batting has looked haunted and there is no rhythm or flow to it. He is a hollow shell of the guy who almost single-handedly ruined Steve Waugh's farewell series. The footwork is forced and he seems to be batting more from memory than anything else. Hopefully, this is just a slump and he will be back to his best very soon.

Finally, a word on Virender Sehwag. I love the guy's batting, and his attitude. The only Indian batsman who plays the ball on its merit got out because he did not play one that way. The ball was a bouncer, with a deep square-leg for the mistimed hook, but it was about a couple of feet outside the off-stump. It cried to either to be left alone or upper-cut to third man. He chose the wrong option and perished on a top-edged hook bringing a soft end to a thundering cameo.

The match is interestingly poised with only two possible results - a Sri Lanka win or a draw. Two days to go, with an extra half-hour each day, for India to survive. South Africa did this successfully in the recent Lord's Test match. But they did not have to contend with a magician and his apprentice.

Interesting times are ahead and sleepless nights beckon.