COLOMBO, AUG 25: In front of a nearly half-empty, bowl-shaped Premadassa Stadium, the Indian batsmen conjured up a performance that was a comedy of errors. After the top order submerged under numerous fits and starts, the bottom-half of the team caved in without bothering the scorers to leave a question mark on their making the final of the AIWA triangular One-day cricket tournamemnt.It was a fine toss to win or so did everyone think, going by the manner in which Sachin Tendulkar started stroking the ball. The wicket appeared placid and score reached 49.Then began the never-ending drama. A combination of truly outstanding fielding by the Sri Lankans, reminiscent of their 1996 World Cup days, and a panicky response from the Indians led to the fall of the top two in the batting order: Ganguly a victim of his own misjudgment and Tendulkar at the receiving end of Muralitharan's quick work in the outfield.Rahul Dravid too had his own problems, jabbing into the hands of the wicket-keeper and India had frittered away the advantage of not only batting first but also making a reasonably good opening start.Then followed a period of sensible batting. Amay Khurasia, in the two innings he has played here, has been impressive. The temperament is good, the strokes are there and yet the man, like he did in Galle in the first match, gifted his wicket when the bowling seemed to be easy to him. In Galle, he was fooled by a full toss and his own indecisive reaction to it.Here, a short ball tempted him to clear the square-leg boundary. He almost achieved that feat but for the fielder placed right at the edge of the ropes.His partner in that period of recovery was Ajay Jadeja. Jadeja too began well and having reached a stage of control, threw away his wicket. There is a clear lack of focus and concentration among the top order batsmen, the bottom order seems short on everything - focus and talent.Then followed the real comedy of errors. MSK Prasad ran himself out without facing a ball and without striving to stretch himself while responding to Jadeja's call. Anil Kumble went to the other extreme, racing full tilt for a run while his partner had not responded at all. There were some other very entertaining heaves from the batsmen, bent upon making a hash of a situation which at one stage - 155-3 - wasn't all that bad. The Indian tail is going from bad to worse, if that is possible.UMPIRE PENALISED: DN Pathirana, who has been on the Sri Lankan international panel of umpiring since 1993 and has stood in seven One-day internationals, was given a one-match suspension. He tried to explain to the press his decision of ruling Adam Gilchrist out in the Australia-Sri Lanka opening One-day match of the triangular series.The suspension comes in operation for the India-Sri Lanka match on August 29 for which he was one of the two umpires. However, the Sri Lankan board decided to let him stand in today's India-Sri Lanka match.Apparently, the ICC code of conduct does not allow an umpire to explain the reasons for having given a particular decision to the press.
