India not as aggressive as a No.1 team should be : Lady Jayawardane

[HowardRoark]

This lady and her partners will bat on and on the home grown flat tracks to boost their 'impressive' averages, but want the Indians to declare early and go aggressively for a win :finger: http://www.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/current/story/470562.html

The most talked-about factor of the second Test was the pitch. The last one-and-a-half days may have made for dull cricket, but it was probably a better pitch than the ones we have played the last two to three SSC Tests on. It had more bounce, and the previous pitches kept getting slower and slower, and by the fourth and fifth day, the ball wouldn't even get up to your knees. The spinner didn't have anything, but this pitch gave the spinners some bounce. But it just was a good wicket to bat on. You needed extraordinary bowlers to take wickets on this pitch. Probably that's why there weren't many wickets. At the same time both sides had quality batsmen, you had to take that into account as well. You shouldn't blame the pitch too much. We probably need a bit more sporting pitches. One way of doing is to probably leave a bit of more moisture on, and not put those sponges on everyday. That's something they can think of, especially looking at the SSC pitch, so that it's not too dry: just leave a bit of moisture from the morning covers. I was happy there was bounce in that wicket, which we never had. We just need a bit more liveliness. If we can manage that, given the current bounce and pace, the SSC could become one of the best pitches in the island. We shouldn't forget that we had still managed to exert a lot of pressure on India. Until we dropped Sachin Tendulkar, a follow-on was a distinct possibility. But Prasanna Jayawardene is probably the best wicketkeeper going around. Anybody can make a mistake. Unfortunately it was Tendulkar, and he made us pay for it. He had Suresh Raina with him for company. We were all surprised he was not in the line-up earlier. Raina is a wonderful player. He now knows the feeling of a scoring a Test hundred. It took me three or four matches to get a hundred, and it is important to know that feeling. You know that you are good enough. Then you get hungry for that feeling all the time. Overall we were quite happy with the way we played the Test. We were dominant, our bowlers bowled well in tough conditions, and created more opportunities than India's line-up did. We put a lot of pressure on their top order. We are quite happy that we were very consistent with bat and ball. We had a few fielding lapses, but I think we can take lot of heart from this. We probably need a bit more sporting pitches. One way of doing is to probably leave a bit of more moisture on, and not put those sponges on everyday We also had to go a bit easy on our bowling. Lasith Malinga wasn't a 100%, and Chanaka Welegedara wasn't in the greatest of rhythm. Even though he dismissed Virender Sehwag twice in Galle, we decided a week's work with the coaching staff will get his rhythm back. At the same time, playing two Tests in 12 days is not easy. We are looking forward to the next match. We know we are playing the No. 1 team in the world, we are 1-0 up, and we know they didn't create any opportunities in the second Test. I was disappointed. I thought they might go for an early declaration and make a game out of it, which they didn't. I felt that they are not as aggressive as a No. 1 team should be. Hopefully we can take the upper hand and get a good start to the third Test. The pitch at the P Sara Oval will have a bit more movement. It's usually livelier than the SSC. It will probably have more spin as well, on the fourth and fifth day of the Test. It will get slower towards the latter part, but it will be a result-orientated wicket. A result is exactly what we are looking at, even though we now know we will not become No. 1 even if we win the series 2-0. It's not a big issue. Mentally you cannot go in that frame of mind of just protecting your lead, especially against a side like India. It's important that we play aggressive cricket. Even in the previous Test we went for the kill. The only way you can play good cricket is when you bowl the first ball or face the first ball, you know you are going for a win. As long as we know we have beaten a No. 1 team in a Test series, it would be a feather in our cap.

[Guest Hiten.]

Jesus Christ, why the **** are these guys out of everyone commenting on India's play ? Jaya is "disappointed" because India did not show the aggressive attitude by declaring earlier on. Why was he expecting an early declaration ? To score another 100 on SSC's flatbed ? Where was these preachers when SL batted for 3 and half days to compile "world record" score of 952 ? Jayasuriya was presented with a 17 bedroom house for that "feat" and SL till date proudly thumps their chest upon hearing that highest score record. Sanga and Jaya are coming out as complete ****ing fools and desperate ****heads. Time and again these guys are found wanting if asked to bat on foreign land; yet they have the audacity to talk about other team's approach, ability and credibility. Being No.1 batsman of SL, he should be asked if he thinks he actually deserves to be the country's best, given his horrendous performances outside SL ?

[achilles]

The Sri Lankans are behaving in a very aggressive manner, reminiscent of the Border-Gavaskar series where Australia and India usually trade barbs in the media. Can't help but draw the parallel. However, this hate for India, the same India which has bailed them out countlessly by playing them endlessly and also brought in revenues consistently, is a bit surprising. If the draw pinches them so much, why don't they prepare a competitive track? Sangakarra looks like a hypocrite following this test, given that he had a lot to say about India's #1 status but thought it was okay to play defensive cricket so that they don't lose the series. Having said that, both teams had their chances. But the pitch was a shocker and Sangakarra will have a lot to answer if the next test has a similar track.

[King]

I think it should be otherwise, it is Sri Lanka that has to do all the running seeing that they are nowhere near the top. If they want the top spot then they have to be aggressive and looking to beat India 3-0 at home. Moreover it is home conditions for Sri Lanka, they should be able to exert pressure on the opponents not give away over 700 runs. Sri Lanka batted and batted in the last test giving no other options anyways. Even Sri Lankan bowling was at many times negative. They were trying to keep the runs down. I guess he needs to see both sides of the coin. Now without Murali Sri Lanka will know what it takes to beat teams. Murali is always looking for wickets but sadly not the rest of the Sri Lankan team.

[EnterTheVoid]

I agree that India are not as aggressive as the No. 1 team should be but coming from Lanka, it doesn't mean much. Its not as if Lanka are playing cricket worthy of someone vying for No. 1

[f.b.m]

lol at Sri Lankans talking about aggreshun.

[vamos_rafa]

lol..sometimes i wndr SL ppl try to match up 2 indians....lollz...and how come they have the best of kinds of format?best WK,best all rounder,best batsamn,best spin bowler....everythin?/and wat crap they bowled to sehwag? 5 players on the ropes and bwlin 3 ft outside off stump..and they tlk of aggression....had they been aggressive and result oriented they wudn have built highways like these.... This article frm jaya aunty also highlights the diff b/w indian and SL batsman...when askd abt the pitch sachin said its a nightmare for bowlers...but jaya aunty says it ws a gud track...but needd exceptional bowlers..maybe chuckers?or maybe he's tryin to defend his poor away record by statin tht where he scores runs is imp......