Poor tactics cost India Galle Test
Unfortunately for millions of those who follow Indian cricket, India the top ranked team in the world lost the Galle Test, the first of the three match series. While winning and losing is part of the game and Indian team cannot be faulted for the loss, what would hurt Indian followers the most is the fact that India lost due to poor tacticts and not because of lack of talent, because when it comes to talent Indians were the better team.
After the whole of second days play was washed out due to rain with Sri Lanka on a healthy 256 for 2, Indian team management should have understood that there were only two results possible in the match and that is a draw or a Sri Lanka win. Indians should have understood the fact that Sri Lankans after having lost a portion of first day due to rain and the entire second day would be under pressure to get some quick runs to force a early declaration so as to give themselves enough time to get enough number of overs to dismiss the strong Indian batting line up twice in the match. While Sri Lankans had to perform the dual task of getting runs and at a quick pace, Indians had a simpler task at hand and that was too contain the batsmen because the more number of overs Sri Lankan batsmen are forced to bat, the lesser number of overs Indian batsmen need to bat. Indians played to Sri Lankas hands and gave away quick runs which compensated for rain delay.
When Indians batted they had a simple task to do and that is to bat out two days and look for a draw without looking at the scoreboard or run rate. Another thing where Indians played to Sri Lankans hand was they went by Muralis reputation and Sri Lankans home record conveniently forgetting the fact the same Muralidharan and his support cast which which was brutally dealt with when the two teams met last time in India.
Finally where India went wrong was the fact that they did not anticipate that Malinga would come up with something special. Indians seem to have forgotten the fact that it was Rangana Herath and Lasith Malinga who turned the match into Sri Lankas favour with their batting heroics and it is a known fact that whenever a player comes up with something special in an area in which he is accustomed to he is bound to excel in his specialized area to make the match memorable him and earn a Man of the Match Award and this is something that has been happening since decades. Though Rangana Herath could not complement his batting heroices with the ball, Malinga did exactly that and his efforts with the ball, inspired by his batting heroices won him the Man of the Match Award and Sri Lanka the Galle Test and with it probably the series.
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