THE Sri Lankan cricketers although they did not win a Test match did well to come out of India having drawn the Three Test matches. This effort is admirable when one considers the previous tour where Sri Lanka lost all Three Test matches by innings with more than a day and a half to spare.
Arjuna Ranatunga was the skipper on that tour too with Bandula Warnapura as coach and Anurudha Polonowita as manager.
This is the first time that a team has toured India and come back unscathed. That is indeed a plus mark. In the Tests played it was apparent that the Indians respect and fear our ability now.
Gone are the days when they used to prepare wickets to suit their spinners and do us in with ample time to spare. Now they don't resort to these tactics because they are aware that we are in possession of bowlers equal or even better than theirs who can exploit the wicket and conditions and turn tables.
Even in the final Test when the Indians had an impregnable lead of over 300, it was apparent that captain Tendulkar and coach Gaekward were scared to declare. Anxiety was writ on their faces the way they kept looking at the scoreboard. That showed the immense respect they have for us.
The Indians in their frustration of not being able to defeat the Sri Lankans fair and square resorted to some dirty tactics to try and achieve their end.
The bowlers kept running on the danger zone and the umpires had to caution them. The close in fielders resorted to intimation by indulging in verbals and trying to upset the batsmen's concentration. They put the umpires under tremendous pressure by appealing unnecessarily.
But the worst, and lowest act was played by Ajay Jadeja. When Kumara Dharmasena had played a stroke and the ball looked like rolling on to his wicket, Jadeja stepped in between the ball and Dharmasena in an endeavour to prevent Dharmasena from stopping the ball hitting his wicket.
Had the ball rolled on the wicket Dharmasena would have been ruled out. It is time that those who matter told Jadeja that this is not what is expected of a sportsman. We feel the sooner he is taken out of the game the better it will be for the game and his country. If that is how he wants his team and country to win then it is a sad reflection of what the game is all about in the land of the maharajas.
While the umpiring in this series left much to be desired, it was the Sri Lankans who were mostly at the receiving end. We don't want to comment on this aspect as TV replays showed all. How Roshan Mahanama came to be ruled out on the final day defies all ethics of lbw umpiring. Had there been three more wickets Mahanama could still have survived. Skipper Ranatunga came in for criticism for putting the opposition in after winning the toss. The wicket with grass on it was apparently going to help the pacemen. Ranatunga did the right thing in deciding to give his three man pace attack a go on this track.
Predications were that the session before lunch was going to be productive to the side bowling first. That the Lankan pacemen failed to exploit the conditions was one of those things!
Had the Indian pacemen been given first go on this wicket they would certainly have had us on the hook and bundled us out for a small score.. The wicket was expected to get better and help the batsman as the game progressed. Had the Lankans been dismissed for a small first innings score it would have been difficult to stave off defeat. In the circumstances Ranatunga did correct in deciding to field.
All in all coach Yardley, physio Alex Kountouri, manager Duleep Mendis with skipper Ranatunga and the team can be satisfied with their efforts in India. But that does not mean that everything is tickety boo. There are still many loose ends. However they seem to be on the right track and if they keep working hard there is no reason why victories in Test cricket, which is what the game is all about should not be coming.