Battered bowlers take a break

Sri Lankas tour of India has been a forgettable one for bowlers on both sides so far: Three high-scoring Tests were followed by two...

Sri Lankas tour of India has been a forgettable one for bowlers on both sides so far: Three high-scoring Tests were followed by two monster T20s and then,the incredible 825-run blitz in the first one-dayer. Considering the numbers,it was hardly surprising that,on the eve of the second ODI,Indian pacemen Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra preferred to indulge in a few swings of the bat at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Jamtha rather than rolling their arm over in the nets. Of those who had suffered at the hands of Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara on Tuesday,only Praveen Kumar spent time bowling at Indias training session,which was once again peppered with the familiar sound of the ball hitting the sweetest spot of the willow.

However,despite it having been a chilling nightmare for the bowlers,Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni preferred to look at the positives,one of which he pointed out was the bowling at the death. Sri Lanka required only 32 runs off the last five overs in Rajkot,but Zaheer and Nehra kept their nerve despite having suffered in their initial spells.

I think that was one of the best death bowling performances in the past one year. I have always said that we have not been consistent towards the end,but if you see the last game,in the last five overs we gave away around 27 runs. Ashish bowled five overs a in row and also got a bit of reverse swing going, Dhoni said.

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So freaky was the scoring rate at Rajkot that Dhoni couldnt help but smile when talking about how the match could have been won more easily they only needed to have scored 20-30 runs more than the 414 they managed. Once in a while we get wickets like these and,add to it the small size of the ground,it is very difficult for the bowlers. Its also hard predicting what a safe score is, he said.

While predicting another game like Tuesdays is hazardous,all indications are that there will be a lot of runs in this one as well.

Fielding concern

Meanwhile,Dhoni admitted that the number of catches India were dropping was a matter of concern. You may drop the odd difficult catch but straightforward chances need to be taken. In the last three-four games we have dropped a lot of regulation catches, Dhoni said. At the same time it will be solved at some point of time because of the effort that we are putting in. We are hoping we dont drop catches in this game.

The Sri Lankans arrived much later in the day and in the absence of regular faces Muttiah Muralitharan and Dilhara Fernando,young off-spinner Suraj Randiv proved to be a refreshing addition to the setup with his unique bowling action (he practically bowls off the wrong foot). The sight of Lasith Malinga bowling at full tilt in the nets would also have provided some solace for Sangakkara,who has tasted little success on this tour so far.