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Sri Lanka square Pepsi Series

It is perhaps symbolic that when I sit down to review the final game of the year 1997, the image that keeps coming back vividly to mind is one of startling, even laughable, incompetence.

It happened right in the beginning of the game. In over number ten, Umpire Professor R C Sharma, intent on watching where the ball was landing, didn't even bother checking the bowler's (Sajeewa D'Silva) feet. Twice on the run, the bowler overstepped, and was not called. Then Sharma capped it by missing his count, and letting the over run into the seventh ball.

One thought that was pretty much the nadir, but over number 12 brought worse. Ball on off and middle, kicking up, Jadeja comes down the track and slashes, the ball takes a clear outer edge and goes to the keeper, who holds with ease. The umpire clearly raises his finger. And then that upraised finger goes towards his hat, which he scratches, making a futile pretence that that was the real reason he had raised his finger in the first place.

Why? Because Jadeja, indulging in a bit of gamesmanship, fiddled with his gloves and looked unconcerned about the huge appeal. And the umpire did his rethink, based on that bit of gamesmanship.

What it showed was inexperience. And what it underlined, yet again, was the BCCI's totally ad hoc policy in appointing umpires with no regard for criteria such as ability or experience. The net result? The image of an umpire raising his finger in a clear "he's out" signal, then scratching his hat with it, will be beamed worldwide, to the further detriement of the Indian cricket establishment already reeling from the Indore fiasco, and so much else besides.

As if this -- allied to some of the most wildly inconsistent calling of wides I have ever seen in my life -- were not enough, Sharma's colleague in arms, K Hariharan, struck when Lanka were batting. This time, Sairaj Bahutule got one to turn from outside leg to middle, Aravinda D'Silva, with the score on 120/3, slashed, under edged and was held by the keeper. The nick was clear, the sound audible -- to all but Mr Hariharan, who ruled the other way.

This is not the first time total incompetence by inexperienced umpires has impacted on the result of a game. This is not, too, the first time I find myself asking myself if the BCCI's reigning mandarins, in its haste to reward "friendly" associations, has a moment to spare to think of the enormous damage they are doing the game in the process.

Did Indian cricket need this black mark? Did it need Indore? Did it need the fiasco of the hotel rooms in Goa, when the BCCI after having grandly named one hotel as the place for the Lankans in the agreed upon itinerary, shoved them without warning into another, totally C grade one without even the basic amenities of STD phones and such?

Bob Dylan once sang eloquently of needless mayhem, when he asked, "How many more deaths will it take till they learn/That too many people have died?" You could paraphrase, and ask with perfect truth how much more damage the BCCI will do, before we wake up to the fact that the reputation of this country insofar as cricket goes has been totally, irrevocably, lost?

Normally one looks at the new year with a sense of optimism, figuring, no matter how bad the previous year has been, the one coming up can be only better. This time round, one realises that this same bunch of officials are going to continue calling the shots, and fears that 1998 can only get worse. And therein lies the tragedy.

If officialdom is bad enough, they have good support from the selectors. Who are now in an "experimental" stage. Consider this: ever since the 1996 World Cup, commentators and experts the world over rave about Ajay Jadeja as one of the most dangerous middle order batsmen in the business. So the selectors decide to "experiment". Having picked Navjot Singh Sidhu as an opener, they then "instruct" that he bat at number three, and that Jadeja open. Result? An opener by temperament comes in at lower than his batting order. And Jadeja, who can't -- even, I submit, by his most adoring fans -- be deemed a top flight opener, finds himself playing a strokeless innings of 53 off 109, those figures further aggravated by the fact that 20 off those runs came off just five hits to the fence, meaning that his other 104 deliveries faced fetch just 33 runs.

Further. Thanks to his inability to take singles -- his strength in the latter overs -- the impact on India's scoring rate is incalculable. 16/0 in the first five overs (30 deliveries) out of which Jadeja faces 20, without scoring. Which means that Ganguly, who in that same period got 10 runs off 11 balls faced, is mostly kept away from the strike. At the end of 10 overs, India 30/0, and Jadeja, two runs off 37 deliveries faced.

To go back to the beginning, Tendulkar had a tricky decision to make on winning the toss. He opted to bat, his rationale being that no one could say for certain how this pitch would behave towards the latter stages. The trouble with that decision was that to pull it off, India had to put up something like 250 on the board to challenge the Lankan lineup of strokeplayers.

In that context, check out the rate of progression: 16/0 in 5. 30/0 in 10. 49/0 in 15. 66/0 in 20. 97/0 in 25. In other words, less than 100 on the board at the halfway stage, and that in turn meant that every single batsman from there on would come under enormous pressure to start swinging for the fences. And that kind of pressure produces collapses.

India's began when Jadeja, in over number 32, tried to lift Jayasuriya over long off only to find Muralitharan. 53 off 109 with five fours, and, I suspect, an innings Jadeja will want to forget in a hurry.

Sachin Tendulkar decided to promote himself, and right from the moment he came in, kept looking for his shots. However, before he could settle down, Ganguly went. In over number 33, attempting a paddle sweep only to find backward square leg with the top edge, 61 off 86 with four fours and a six to his name, and yet another good innings under his belt.

Victim number three of the pressure for quick runs was Tendulkar -- with Muralitharan bowling round the wicket outside leg, the sweep was the only viable scoring stroke, Sachin kept playing it and getting singles but at that stage, India needed fours and sixes to get the scoreboard moving, so the batsman got under a sweep and tried to hit over the boundary, only for Sajeewa D'Silva to hold a superbly judged catch at backward square, right on the line. 9 off 13 for the Indian captain, out in the 37th over.

Azharuddin came in, looked for singles from the get-go, but found the field placing too good for him as his wristy flicks kept finding the fielders posted to cut off his best shots. And with overs rapidly diminishing, Azhar in over number 43 heaved Muralitharan over long off for six, tried a repeat in the very next ball, only succeeded in hitting it straight up in the air for the bowler to hold on the follow through. 24 off 36, one four and one six.

Sidhu kept dancing down the wicket and heaving -- but he is no middle order bat, more so not the kind of batsman who can innovate in the slog overs. The bowlers kept firing the ball into his pads, Sidhu was forced to push singles in an innings of 17 off 22 with just the one hit to the fence, finally, in over number 45, he took off for a run that never was there, and Ranatunga caught him out of his guard with a brilliant bit of fielding at midwicket, diving to stop a hard hit, and returning while prone to catch Sidhu out.

Nayan Mongia played with elan in a crisp cameo of 14 off 12 before falling to a superb running catch by Muralitharan at backward square, the fielder running all the way from fine leg to snag the take on the run, Robin produced his usual little cameo of 19 off 23, and India ended on 228/6 in 50 overs -- by any yardstick, a good 25 runs short of a defensible total.

Ever since his comeback, Srinath has bowled with exceptional discipline. Here again, he was no exception -- his first spell of 6 overs produced a grand total of 11 runs, and, in the process, he twice thudded his breakbacks into Marvan Atapattu's midriff, and once rapped Mahanama sharply on the knuckles with one that stood up on a length.

At the other end, Debashish Mohanty underwent his trial by fire. In his first over, bowling over the wicket, he kept making the mistake of giving Jayasuriya room outside off, the Lankan opener got the room he needed, and blasted four fours to have Lanka rocketing at 17/0 in two overs, after Srinath's first had fetched a solitary run.

It was interesting to see Srinath and Sachin having a long chat with Mohanty before he began his second over. The result, the young medium pacer imitated Srinath's tactic in coming round the wicket to the left hander. The first ball was just outside off, Mohanty's natural away swing bringing it in to the left hander. Jayasuriya aimed a cut at it, the inward movement of the ball cramped him for room, and Robin lunged forward at point to hold a good catch.

A point in passing: by his standards, Jayasuriya has had a forgettable time in both the Tests and ODIs on this Indian tour. And given how much international coaches these days believe in following videos of the opposition, I suspect that increasingly, the Lankan master blaster is going to encounter fast bowlers coming round the wicket, bowling wide of the crease and making the ball rear into his ribs around off, cramping him for room, wherever he goes. A line of attack Jayasuriya will now need to work on ways to counter.

With Jayasuriya off, Mohanty settled back into a nice line to the right handers, and as is his wont, struck again when, in the 12th over, he pitched one on Atapattu's off stump, short of length, the batsman looked to force off the back foot, the ball seamed away to take the edge and Azhar, placed at widish gully for just that shot, dived forward to hold a brilliant catch.

That brought Mahanama, the most consistent of Lanka's batsmen and increasingly, their ideal number three, together with Aravinda D'Silva. The latter -- who was seen in a blazing rage when the appeal for caught behind had been turned down earlier -- channeled his anger into an initial neck or nothing assault against the bowling, but after a couple of close shaves, settled down to play with his trademark touch and timing, concentrating on rotating the strike and taking at the least a single off almost every ball he faced.

Much has been written -- a lot of it adversely -- about Tendulkar's captaincy. Today, he got one part of it superbly right. Another, rather badly wrong.

The right bit was his field placing. When Mahanama and Aravinda settled down to glide the bowlers off the open face to third man, he quickly plugged that gap with his best fielder, Azhar, at a very short third man, forcing the batsmen to look for other avenues of run-gathering. Similarly, when Mahanama began using the paddle sweep to Sairaj Bahutule -- the leg-spinner followed the latest fashion, introduced in Sharjah, of the leggie bowling round the wicket, outside leg and turning in to limit the options for the batsmen -- Tendulkar again plugged the gap quickly by bringing a short fine leg and a short backward square leg in place.

When a batsman finds his productive shot blocked, he takes risks. Mahanama did that, by trying to move to leg and play inside out to off. The ball from Bahutule landed outside leg, spun, beat the stroke and crashed into off stump, Sri Lanka 112/3 in over number 26.

A little comparison is interesting, here. At the halfway mark, India were on 97/0. At the same stage, Sri Lanka had lost both openers, and were a mere 14 runs ahead, thanks to tight, restrictive bowling by Srinath first, then Robin Singh and Sairaj Bahutule after the 15 over mark.

And Mahanama left immediately after. Ranatunga hasn't been in good touch on this tour and here, again, he was more edges than middle against Bahutule and Chauhan, surviving some very close shaves (rather ironic phrase to use, really, given that for once, the normally clean shaven Lankan captain was sporting a white gristle on his chin). And that is when Aravinda D'Silva nicked Bahutule to Mongia with Hariharan, apparently in a deep dream, missing it altogether.

More comparison: at the 30 over mark, India were 125/0. Sri Lanka, 125/3. And from that point on, the advantage of chasing, and knowing how much you need, began to tell.

The Indian batsmen at this stage tended to hit out, looking for runs, trying for the highest possible target to set. The Lankans, knowing exactly what they needed, settled down to calmly work the ball around in singles, keeping the ask rate around the 4.8-5 run an over mark.

In the process, they took a lot of very risky singles, and in the process showed up another major weakness of India's cricket preparedness. These days, international teams spend hours practising to throw down the stumps from any and all angles, while other players practise backing up to the throws. India's practise techniques, however, belong to a much more leisurely era -- and consists of the coach going out there in his shorts, hitting a few in the air for fielders to hold, and then everyone ambling leisurely around the ground in the parody of a jog.

This is the kind of thing a top class professional coach focusses on. What do we have instead? We have a BCCI that, after much hype, says it has appointed Bobby Simpson as "consultant" coach. Bobby Simpson, last heard of, says he knows nothing about such an appointment.

Meanwhile, the result on the ground? Time and again, Aravinda and Arjuna raced singles, the throws came in and the cameras showed that if they had hit, the batsman was gone by miles.

If the selectors did their jobs... If there was more accountability from the various committees... If the players were not chopped and changed irrespective of merit and performance... if a team was built, then allowed to settle... If....

If. A sad leitmotif that runs, dirge-like, across any autopsy report on any aspect of Indian cricket.

Srinath returned, in over number 34, and took out Ranatunga with a beauty that reared up on the batsman as he shaped to drive on the up, the higher bounce getting the top part of the bat straight to Jadeja at cover, Sri Lanka 164/4 at that stage. In a good captaincy move, Lanka promoted Kaluwitharana ahead of Tillekeratne, and the little 'keeper, obviously sent out to take a few hefty hits and try and reduce the target, did his job to perfection, ignoring the streaky chips, inner edges et al, to put together a neat cameo of 30 off 38, with a six and a four, before departing, Mohanty's in-cutter taking the inner edge onto the stumps in over number 46.3. By then, however, the score was 220, and it was all too late. Dharmasena came in ahead of the off form Tillekeratne, and stood guard while Aravinda guided the side home in the 49th over, before finishing off the job for his senior with a four over long off.

Aravinda, for a superbly paced, calm and controlled 82 off 90 deliveries with six fours and a huge six off Chauhan -- a stroke played deliberately to relieve pressure, going down the wicket and swinging mightily after the off spinner had troubled him with five deliveries that kept turning him inside out -- won the man of the match. And, yet one more time, proved to be pretty much the difference between a Lankan win and a defeat.

But to me, he deserved that award and more for the way he handled Kaluwitharana. The keeper-batsman was tentative when he first came out -- and at that stage, with the score 164/4, another wicket could have turned the screws on the batting side. Aravinda kept walking down to gentle his partner, cool him down, keep him focussed. When Kaluwitharana, unable to get his big hits going, kept pushing and taking off for non-existent singles (again, a more accurate fielding side would have had him run out on three, four occasions right at the outset), Aravinda was down the track, arm around his partner, taking him aside for a calming chat.

It was a brilliant demonstration of controlling an innings right through, from the moment he came in with Lanka not too well placed at 51/2. And confirms him in his stature as perhaps the best, most solid and consistent batsman in international cricket today and the one who, more than Jayasuriya, is dangerous no matter the quality of the wicket or the bowling.

For India, good work in the field was marred by lousy throwing. Good bowling was marred by bad discipline -- 13 wides (including four wides by, of all people, Ganguly) is that many extra runs plus a good over and more extra and that, given that the margin of victory was just 10 balls, was evidently crucial again.

The Pepsi Series, thus, squared. And over the final tournament of the year, two large, ugly shadows -- of the disaster of Indore, and of the most forgettable pair of umpires it has been our misfortune to see in action in any one international in recent memory.

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