Indian Cricketing Machismo SPEWS OUT in the Field at Khetharama … As They Lose Comprehensively-by Andrew Fidel Fernando
Source:Thuppahis
Andrew Fidel Fernando in ESPNcicinfo, 8 August 2024, where the title runs “Is this for real? Sri Lanka’s rare glory leaves India shaken” ….. while his report here has had highlights imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi
The visitors were left with plenty to ponder after their batting struggled in spin-friendly conditions.
Avishka Fernando cover drives…. & Wellalage celebrates one of his wickets
Mohammed Siraj is fired up.
Halfway through his seventh over, the 39th of the innings, he strides down the pitch and sprays a few angry words at Kusal Mendis, who responds in kind. In his next over, Siraj bowls a ball to Janith Liyanage that the batter drives back at him. Siraj picks the ball up in his follow through, and flings it at the stumps, and misses. The batter would have been back safely in any case.
In the background of that shy at the stump is Virat Kohli, applauding the bowler’s aggression. Through the course of these middle overs, Kohli has gone through some big emotions of his own. He’s celebrated wickets with more verve than the bowlers and yelled at exiting batters, appealed so vociferously it felt like his lungs might come flying out of his body. He’s backed up every move of the bowlers like they were boxers at the Olympics and he was their coach in the corner.
At one point he fields the ball at short mid on and throws at the stumps but hits the pad of Charith Asalanka. The batter had not only never seriously attempted a run, he’s so far home he’s fallen asleep in front of a Netflix documentary.
But none of this is massively out of the ordinary. We have seen Siraj this fired up before. For Kohli, this is like a six out of 10 on the macho-flailing scale.
But this is what is truly surprising. Kohli has played many matches against Sri Lanka in which he has found no need to reach into the angrier portions of his heart. Siraj has usually had a very high smile-to-grimace ratio when facing this opposition.
And now all this aggression has been accessed for Sri Lanka? Wow. Should they be blushing? Is this for real?
- Are India a little shaky on big-turning tracks, given the results in their last four ODIs in Asia? This series was three matches long. This was their fourth match back.
- Are they over-reliant on Jasprit Bumrah at the death? He was rested for this series, but Sri Lanka’s lower-middle order and lower order produced strong showings and reached totals that proved to be beyond India’s batters.
- Should they keep persisting with floating batters in the middle overs, prioritising left-right combinations over more strongly-defined roles for each batter?
- Are they better off with predictable KL Rahul or mad genius Rishabh Pant?
