This time, message from Rayudu is loud and clear
After Shikhar Dhawan and Ajinkya Rahane, it was the turn of Ambati Rayudu, and he clearly issued a statement to his team and the selectors. The message is loud and clear from the young man, ‘you throw me at the deep end and I will find my way out’. He batted well in Nottingham during India’s recent tour of England when India were chasing, and this time when he was promoted to No 3, Rayudu scored a big hundred.
To go through the vagaries and come out a winner is an important quality in the devel- opment of a young cricketer. Rayudu’s progress has been heartening. He showed tremendous skill under pressure and with him displaying such brilliant batting skills, one has to say that the India top order’s show has been heartening, and for such batting skills by the Indians it was another easy win at Ahmedabad. NO DETERMINATION Sri Lanka are surely struggling and I am not sure if there is enough determination to beat India.
They have rested the experienced bowlers, which is understandable, as they want to give an opportunity to fresh faces. But the balance needs to be right as Sri Lanka need to remember that they are playing one of the top ODI teams of the world and that too at home.
Two games are gone and if this trend continues, the series will be a clean sweep for India. For Sri Lanka, only Dhammika Prasad looked penetrative and capable of taking wickets and once the new ball is gone the Sri Lanka bowlers have found it difficult to get the India batsmen out. This reflected in India’s first match score of 363 and the chase of 275 with six overs to spare.
As for batting, Sri Lanka will be again playing on a belter at Hyderabad and will have to play in a different way, especially the middle order. NO BIG KNOCK There have been a lot of starts but no big hundreds at the top of the order. Dilshan, Sangakkara and Mahela have started but not carried on long enough to create an impact on the game. With the experience they have, they know that playing an ODI in India has to be different from any other part of the world, and that anything less than 300-325 will be hard to defend on batting tracks.
EXPERTSPEAK TSPEAK
RAYUDU SHOWED TREMENDOUS SKILL UNDER PRESSURE AND ONE HAS TO SAY THAT THE INDIA TOP ORDER’S SHOW HAS BEEN HEARTENING BALANCE SHEET NEEDS TO BE RIGHT, SL NEED TO REMEMBER THAT THEY ARE PLAYING A TOP ODI TEAM