Yet Another Meaningless Ind-Sri Lanka Series, 2012

[Omkara]

Just because its a YAMISS one shouldn't ignore the same. Viru and Virat played well. Irfan took a wicket.

[prasen9]

Rohit got in ahead of Manoj again. How many more chances will he get? I would get Manoj for the next match and choose between them based on who plays better or rotate. Rahul Sharma also got dropped and Ojha preferred. Rahul Sharma has bowled well in the chances he has got. He deserves a few more matches.

[Atithee]

Rahul not playing may have to do something with his positive drug test news making rounds.

[PKBasu]

Irfan bowled superbly (1/26 in 8 overs, including a maiden to Sangakkara!!) and smashed 7 runs off the last four balls of the innings (after the first two balls of that final over had resulted in two wickets for SL). I hope he is never again dropped in favor of Vinay Kumar (for the all rounder slot), as had originally happened for this series!!

Excellent bowling by Ashwin (and also Sehwag, after a superb 96 with the bat) to strangle the powerful SL middle-order.

[PKBasu]

After strangling them in the first half of the innings (125/3 after 26 overs) our bowlers contrived to allow SL to come within 22 runs of victory. Irfan was the pick of the bowlers throughout the innings, followed by Ashwin and Zaheer. Umesh was expensive, although Dhoni failed to go for a simple catch from Sanga early in Yadav's spell (and that went for four instead). Dhoni also failed to go for a sharp catch off Irfan's bowling toward the end of the innings.

[PKBasu]

On an apparently very windy day, India are all out for a paltry 138. Rohit Sharma falls for a duck -- and one has to wonder just what he is doing with a tenure-track position in the Indian middle-order, having averaged 17 in 10 ODI innings in 2012.

[prasen9]

Actually, they are hardly using Ojha either. Dhoni should go back to his seven batsman policy and have both Rohit and Manoj. Rohit and Manoj can both bowl a bit. With Sehwag, Raina, Rohit, and Manoj, used in that order, Dhoni should be able to get 10 overs. Umesh Yadav is not an ODI bowler. One wonders why he or Dinda is preferred to Munaf Patel or even Nehra. However much we like to hate these two guys, they have performed better than the other idiots who get hit all the time.

[Atithee]

YAMISS! Not really. Nothing has changed. We are still hopeless. We let SL come so close in the first ODI when we had them on the mat. In the second ODI, well, the less we say, the better it is.

One thing that I can't help noticing is the generous offering of wides offered in both ODIs but especially in the second one. Our bowlers rarely ever perform with smallish totals, i.e., don't even show a fighting spirit. Of course, the blame in this one rests squarely with the batsmen but bowlers need to look themselves in the mirror too.

[prasen9]

We don't have bowlers. Just play with 7 batsmen. Or 8. Or whatever it takes.

[prasen9]

Rohit Sharma failed once again. I would drop Ashwin, who has not done much in a while, for now. Tiwary for Ashwin. Let Rohit get one more chance. Rahul Sharma has got four matches till date. He deserves at least once more chance. Umesh Yadav was dropped for Dinda. Now that Dinda has done his job in getting Sangakkara injured , I would go back to Umesh, who is a better bowler not mauler.

[PKBasu]

Good to see Raina act as a successful finisher in yesterday's ODI -- and Irfan (as I have long advocated... ) succeed as an all rounder. Dinda shouldn't be the death-overs bowler, Zaheer should continue that role. Dinda did reasonably well until those death overs, when he was truly mauled.

The management's faith in Rohit Sharma (1,0,0) is beyond ludicrous.

[PKBasu]

Dhoni seems to have become Atithee's disciple (could he, could he be quietly reading sports-india.com???). Rahul Sharma is replaced by the part-time leggie Manoj Tiwary!

[PKBasu]

Dhoni's gambit seems to be working so far, with SL 103/2 after 22 overs, with a wicket each for Dinda and Ashwin. Viru has bowled a solitary over, and it was a maiden! Batting and bowling powerplays already taken.

[PKBasu]

It's working even better for Dhoni now, with Viru getting a wicket (1/22 in 6 overs, fabulous!) and even Tiwary (1/7) getting one -- and of Mahela and Chandimal respectively. But I think Dhoni is taking chance too far by giving Tiwary another over...

The "fifth bowler" (Sehwag, Kohli and Tiwary) have completed their 10 overs, taking 2/44. But Dhoni looks likely to give Viru another over...

[PKBasu]

He continues with Tiwary and Rohit (as bowlers), and is rewarded with Tiwary picking up Mathews' prize wicket. SL 192/5 in 42 overs, Tiwary 6-1-25-2, and starting to look like a real allrounder (don't be fooled!!). He was an allrounder in the under-19s, but that doesn't mean he can bowl in international cricket. (He barely bowls in first-class cricket, for god's sake -- although the same is true for Raina and Yuvraj!).