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| Lankan skipper Mahela Jayawardene who scored a double century in the game congratulates the Pakistani captain Younis Khan who scored a triple century after the latter was bowled for 313 by Lankan paceman Dilhara Fernando. |
It is often quoted that cricket is a batsman’s game. The accent of the game is bent towards the batsman because from the very early days what mattered was how and what the batsmen did in a game. As batting techniques improved, there have been more and more draws recorded.
Now, it is the pitch that has a major influence on the game. The outstanding and very good players adjust their game whatever the surface maybe. However, in the Karachi test match, even the outstanding and very good bowlers failed to impress. There were Muttiah Muralitharan, Chaminda Vaas, Ajantha Mendis, Dilhara Fernando, Umar Gul, Dinesh Kaneria, Yasir Arafat, Sohail Khan, the main bowlers who hurled the leather for five long days and some four hundred and forty overs, yet able to pick up only eighteen wickets. Of that, five wickets fell in the last three hours of the game.
The pitch gave some assistance to the pace bowlers in the first twenty overs of day one and to the spinners in the last twenty overs of day five. As long as pitches such as this are prepared occasionally and maybe only for the first test of a series it will not hurt the game. We are now in an era where test cricket is strained to survive. Games that do not have the prospect of a result through five days is only a poor advertisement for test cricket. The ideal scenario is if a result could be achieved in the final session of day five. In Karachi there was no chance of that happening.
Five batsmen reaped on this docile pitch. Mahela Jayawardena, Thilan Samaraweera and Kumar Sangakkara for Sri Lanka and Younis Khan and Kamran Akmal for Pakistan. Each made their runs in contrasting styles. Malinda Warnapura and Yasir Arafat also got half centuries.
Sangakkara was the second after Warnapura, to reach a half century on day one. He went in when debutant Tharanga Paranavithana fell first ball. Umar Gul in particular probed at the batsmen. So too Yasir Arafat, who was accurate. The pair laid the foundation for Sri Lanka. Through most of his innings Sangakkara had no real difficulties. He timed the ball well, played pleasing strokes and was very comfortable. That was the case in the second innings too, where he started with a glorious drive through extra cover. Having reached the half century mark he was dismissed twice by leg spinner Danesh Kaneria, temporarily losing concentration.
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In contrast, Mahela Jayawardena had to work for his runs when he came to the wicket. He had not made too many in the last ODI series against India, had decided to quit the captaincy before embarking on this tour – subjects that would have been weighing on his mind. The cautious approach at the beginning helped the cause. He was dropped at first slip on 43, but once he went past the half century all the fluency came back. The rest of his innings was a delight to watch.
Thilan Samaraweera, is a batsman in form. He has plenty of opportunities to bat – what he simply loves doing. Being in the test team and also playing domestic cricket affords him those opportunities. At present that is his lot and batting is his life. He started as an off spinner who also bats. Now he has forgotten his off breaks . So much so that Jayawardena used nine bowlers in Karachi. The wicket keeper Prasanna Jayawardena didn’t bowl and the other was Samaraweera! His batting has now attained a new level of confidence. That correct shot selection and pacing the innings were the hallmarks of Samaraweera’s first double ton in test cricket.
Those were also the hallmarks of Younis Khan’s innings. The one difference being he was under some pressure with Pakistan staring into Sri Lanka’s mammoth six hundred plus total. He was at the crease for a total of twelve hours and forty eight minutes. A marathon innings full of determination, concentration and will power. It lifted Pakistan cricket and was a boost for the entire nation.
Kamran Akmal and Yasir Arafat cashed in on some cheap runs. Mahela Jayawardena protected his front line bowlers and used non regular bowlers and the pair made hay while the sun shone.
In the end the match summary read as the batsmen making 1553 runs and the bowlers picking up just 18 wickets in five days. The batsmen reveled, the bowlers toiled.
= Ranil Abeynaike is a former Sri Lanka cricketer and one-time curator of SSC
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