Prasad embarrassed selectors with fine bowling

Prasad bowled beautifully, each spell pitching the ball up and seaming it away from the right-handers. He was the perfect foil for Srinath as he passed the bat repeatedly sometimes with an absolute beauty. There was not an explanation that comes to my mind as to why he didn’t get more than one wicket. I can only think the opposing batsmen were not good enough to risk his deliveries some were too good. It was obvious to anyone who understood cricket that late in the day he `ran out of puff’ or ran out of steam. Just exhausted through lack of match practice, he had to leave the field. The selectors watching today should have been embarrassed with their decision to leave the man out at Mohali and Nagpur. If ever they needed confirmation of a daft decision (they made), then Venkatesh Prasad gave it to them today with some fine but unlucky bowling.

Dharmasena and Mahanama hung around for sometime just tiring the bowlers out. The ploy only came alight when Atapattu was in the nervous nineties. If ever a batsman played nicely upto the nineties and then played like a novice, he was the perfect example. He scratched and poked around giving the spinners, in particular, heaps of confidence. From the batsman being on top, suddenly it was as if Chauhan and Kumble were bowling hand-grenades. The crowd sensed a wicket, the fielders crowded him, both bowlers couldn’t wait to get a go at him and it was not a surprise when he got himself out. How does a batsman go from `in control’ to jelly just because a century is close at hand?

It’s a mystery to me. Surely, he has done all the hard work. Making the first 20 runs is difficult and after that it should get easier. What he should have done is carry on playing his normal game. Don’t change a thing. If the bowlers try harder to deny him balls to hit then have the patience and concentration to wait. They will send him a ball to hit eventually. Instead the pressure builds — panic sets in and he presses the self-destruct button with a bad shot.

By getting Atapattu out short of his century, the spinners were buoyant — on a high, you might say. The ball started to turn and jump occasionally from the bowlers’ follow through footmarks. Suddenly, the tempo had shot up in India’s favour and the crowd got behind the home side. It was no surprise to see Ranatunga fail and Tillekeratne had an awkward time. De Silva is still there and batting very well. But with the pitch just beginning to give some encouragement to the spinners, Sri Lanka know they are `not out of the woods’ yet and there is still a chance of an India victory.