Momentum with India after Day2
Indians for the first time in the series find itself in a somewhat dominant position. Though Indians made a mammoth 707 in the second test, the impact t they had on the second day of the third test is much more because here India finds itself in a position where they can push for a win while in the second test it was only a matter winning he physiological battle in numbers game.
At one point of time when Sri Lanka had carried on their score to 330 for 4, it looked as if they had out batted India out of the third test match and series but the dismissal of Angelo Mathews triggered a batting collapse in which they lost their last six wickets for 95 runs and were restricted to 425 a total that that cannot be considered safe by today's international standards more so with the batting line up India have at their disposal with Sehwag at the top of the order.
Sri Lankas worst fears came true with Sehwag taking control of the proceedings right from the word go. With master blaster SachinTendulkar giving company to the dangerous Sehwag, the partnership has so far yielded 88 runs in a mere 17.4 overs carrying the score to 180 for 2 in just 35 overs and one can say that Indians have the edge after the end of second days play. However Indians cannot be complacent with the rollicking start and while Sehwag should carry on from where he has left yesterday, it is important for the other batsmen to play a steady game and try to reach a score of around 550 runs by the end of third days play and if they have wickets in hand they can launch an assault on the Sri Lankans in the first session on fourth day and declare by lunch and that would allow them a full 5 sessions for their bowlers to have a crack at the Sri Lankan batsmen. A big lead also would mean that India can set attack fields with lot of close in fielders.Another thing what India should ensure is that they should try to avoid batting fourth in the match and therefore it becomes very important to take a big first innings lead and in any case they should not be looking to chase more than 125 runs in the fourth innings as chasing anything in excess of 150 is tricky on sub continent wickets.
The situation as of now is tailor made for Sehwag and it is time for him to get a big double hundred at his usual pace and for a change Indians have a chance to hit back at Sangakkara with regard to his criticism of ICC rankings which placed India at the top in team rankings. Sehwag inspite of his extraordinary consistency in which he reeled three consecutive hundreds in consecutive matches followed by a 99 and unbeaten 97 has lost his number one ranking to Sangakkara and the Lankan skipper though consistent in this series has failed to match Sehwag's consistency over a longer period of time. For the record Sehwag has reeled of ten consecutive scores in excess of 50 in consecutive matches, second only to West Indian legend and our own Gautam Gambhir and yet loses his number one ranking to Sangakkarawho has come nowhere close to him during the same period. It is payback time for Indian cricket fans for they can say if team India cannot be considered No.1, then Sangakkara too cannot be considered numere one.
Let us wish that our batsmen target to bat out the entire third days play so as to put themselves in a situation wherein their bowlers can push for a win in the next days.
Like it on Facebook, Tweet it or share this article on other bookmarking websites.