Sri Lanka v India, 1st Test, Day 3

Sri Lanka declared their first innings closed at6/600, after which Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir came in to bat. Within 6 overs, India had made their first unforced error with the bat - Virendra Sehwag threw his wicket away trying to hook a head high bounder from outside off stump, without getting into any sort of position. Needless to say, he miscued it. From a Test opener in the 5th over of a Test innings, for a side facing a 600+ first innings, this was a shockingly amateurish effort.

If India go on to lose this game and this series, they may well look back to Sehwag's dismissal. The consequences of Sehwag's wicket have to be seen in the context in which it was situated. Ajantha Mendis, in his short career has already shown a great ability to bowl a superb line and length, and a complete lack of fear in trying out all his variations. India faced a huge first innings total, and in a situation where the Sri Lankan spinners were likely to be the major threats, it was important that the Indian openers did not concede a wicket to the Sri Lankan new ball pair. More than any other team, India ought to know the disadvantage that spinners face if the new ball attack fails.

The other batsmen were dismissed. I haven't seen the Ganguly dismissal, but the Tendulkar and Dravid dismissals were due to good balls. In Tendulkar's case, he read Murali's doosra but was in two minds whether to play or leave..... ultimate choosing (too late as it turned out) to leave. In Dravid's case, he recieved a fastish leg cutter from an off-spinner. It was superbly pitched, and even if Dravid had read it, he would have had to be in supreme form to get anywhere near it. Gautam Gambhir was beaten in flight.

Muralitharan and Harbhajan Singh form an interesting comparison. In 1998, when Harbhajan Singh emerged, both he and Murali were probably equally skillful off spinners - both could turn the ball a long way. Murali couldn't bowl his doosra yet, neither could Harbhajan. In the ensuing ten years, Harbhajan Singh has added a doosra and a floater, and now bowls just off breaks and the odd floater. He still struggles to bowl round the wicket, and if anything has lost some of his zip off the wicket, and the metronomic accurate which marked his bowling in his hey day. Murali on the other hand, has developed into the complete bowler - he can turn the ball both ways, is a master of flight, can bowl round the wicket and over the wicket to both right and left handers. The difference in their records is obvious.

Sri Lanka now have two spin bowlers who can turn the ball both ways. Batsmen around the world read Muralitharan nowadays, but he's so accurate now, that even if they read him, he's hard to play. The Indians haven't read Mendis at all, which is understandable since none of them have played him before (Sehwag has played him for 2 balls).

They will figure out how to play him eventually, but it may be too late. They won't lose because they can't read him though. They'll lose because they have an amateur (albeit a stunning batsman) in their ranks.