Colombo Test, Day 3, Tea
Friday, August 31, 2001

The Indians have taken a real beating out there today. At this stage, there looks to be only one likely winner - Sri Lanka. Given the situation, India have no option but to stay positive.

The Indian batsmen who have been engaged in fielding duties for almost two days would do well to observe the way the Sri Lankans have gone about the task of building an innings. Once the batsmen got to 30 or 40, the intention to register a big score was all too clear. You could see that in the case of Hashan Tillekeratne. Once he crossed 50, you could see he had a hundred on his mind. The Indian batsmen didn't aim high enough in the first innings and there was no real thought or planning in their batting.

All is not lost though. If two or three of the Indian batsmen can make big hundreds, they could yet take something from this game. The Sri Lankan attack, with the notable exception of Murali, will not threaten them on a track that still looks an excellent one for batting.

This hasn't been a memorable match, or series, for Harbhajan Singh. That could prove to be a blessing in disguise. He had come here with high hopes on the back of his display against Australia. But the Sri Lankans are very good players of spin and the pitches too have not given him assistance. He has also struggled to come to grips with the Kookaburra ball being used in this series.

He can take solace from the fact that the series in South Africa next month is likely to be an easier one for him. The harsh lessons he has learnt here will stand him in good stead for that test.

Sanjay Manjrekar, mainstay of the Indian batting in the late '80s and early '90s, was talking to Dileep Premachandran.

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