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Points to ponder

You've got to wonder if Jagmohan Dalmiya was watching play on day two of the Asian Test Championship fixture between Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

This is the series that is supposed to serve as an advertisement to Test cricket, a prelude to the World Championship of Tests. What it did, today, was give both teams an opportunity to display their talents for farce -- the obvious goal of the proceedings being to ensure that Sri Lanka get the seven bonus points it needs to pip India and make it to the final of the ATC.

Pakistan obviously prefers to take on Lanka, rather than India, in Dhaka later this month. As Ravi Shastri, in the TV commentary box, said, "If Pakistan wants to choose its opponent in the final, they are perfectly within their rights to do so, after all, they are playing as per the rules."

Taking the point a bit further, former Pakistan Test bowler Sikandar Bakth said, "I must say I don't like what is happening out there, but I don't think it is right to blame Pakistan -- it is because of the system, and it is the system that needs to be changed."

Fair enough. But it does underline the farcical element surrounding this entire Test. Sri Lanka, being generously gifted bonus points by Pakistan at the time of writing this, doesn't want to play in the final -- in fact, it didn't even want to play in this game, Lanka's preference being to give its senior players some rest, then start preparations for the defence of the World Cup.

The Indian cricket establishment -- read Jagmohan Dalmiya -- would dearly love for India and Pakistan to meet in the final in Dhaka. Partly because that is a guaranteed sell out, and fits in with Dalmiya's commitment to swelling the coffers of the Bangladesh cricket board, and partly because a tame finale to the tournament (and from the point of view of public interest, a Pakistan-Sri Lanka final qualifies as 'tame' would not do his baby, the Asian Test Championship, any good at all).

The members of the Indian team, however, are none too interested in going to Dhaka. Aware that their workload kicks into overdrive with the triangular series in India followed by another one in Sharjah, leading up to the World Cup, the Indian players would prefer to get whatever rest they can while the getting is good.

As for Pakistan, it found itself in the final simply because it was hell bent on defeating India in Calcutta, to take the 'decider' after the two-Test series ended on a tie. Having reached the final, willy-nilly, Pakistan apparently figures that a lesser opponent would entail less expenditure of energy.

All of which produced a farcical situation on the morning of the second day when the Pakistan batsmen simply threw their bats at everything, the Lankan fielders floored a few more catches, and at the end of it all, Pakistan got four bonus points (for crossing the 350 mark inside 100 overs) and Lanka, too, got the same number (for taking out eight Pakistan wickets inside the same number of overs).

A friend who was watching the proceedings, messaged me wondering if the way the Pakistanis batted -- 192 runs came off just 32 overs this morning as the batsmen literally flung everything and the kitchen sink at every ball in sight -- was because they wanted the full bonus points.

Why would they? Even if Pakistan were to lose here, and not get a single bonus point, it has already made the final -- so that argument doesn't jell. So it did look as though the Pakistan batsmen were intent on just swinging for glory, and not worrying too much whether they lost wickets.

Symptomatic, too, of the Pakistan mindset was the fact that Saqlain Mushtaq was actually upped in the order, ahead of Wasim Akram. That was at the fall of the sixth wicket, and Saqlain swung lustily, got the mandatory let off -- Sri Lanka's fielding, the last two days, makes India look electric -- and, unfazed, swung again, to hole out to mid off. Wasim Akram then came in and with stationary feet, pushed his bat out to give Russell Arnold in the slips some catching practise -- which, that fielderr's biggest fan would agree, he badly needs.

It was nip and tuck for a while, but in the end, both parties ensured that the full bonus points available on the first innings were duly entered against their names.

And the fun continued in the Lankan innings, with Fazl-e-Akbar and Shahid Nazir, Akram's partners with the new ball, giving a classical emonstration of how to give away runs. The Lankans, with Avishka Gunawardene doing a Sanath Jayasuriya, brought up the 50 off just 46 deliveries, Akbar went for 41 in four overs, 34 of the first 65 runs came to third man where no fielder was available to guard the boundary, and when Lanka got to its 150 off 230 deliveries (not too bad a rate, come to think of it, for a one day game), it got its 5th point for the game.

Saqlain, bowling well as always, did peg the Lankan cause back a bit with some lovely spin bowling, but at the point of writing this report, Lanka with 166/4 in 41 overs were 134 runs short of getting the two remaining bonus points it requires to get into the final (when the score touches 225, it will get its 6th, and draw level with India).

That would be the only point of interest to look for, on day three -- not that either of the two teams on view looked particularly interested, one way or the other.

All of which seems to put the spotlight squarely on the rules -- remember that this is some kind of litmus test for a World Test Championship, there seem to be too many loopholes in the rules, that require plugging in a hurry.

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