Tri-Series: Bad decisions cost India

Agencies

New Delhi, 29 August 2010: One of the cricket presenters was jocularly inquiring about Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s love affair with opening batsman Dinesh Karthik and ’’all rounder’’ Javindra Jadeja, before the start of the tri-series final between India and Sri Lanka at Dambulla on Saturday!

 

Karthik may have been at the rough end of the umpiring decision in the final but his performance throughout the competition has been anything but flattering. In five matches Karthik scored 33 runs at an average of 6.60 with a highest score of 14.

 

Jadeja did not have anything to write home about as well, he ended up with 37 runs in three innings and his bowling was also not spectacular in the tournament. He just had three wickets to his name at an average of 39.33 and an economy rate of over five runs per over.

 

 

One might also ask whether batsman Saurabh Tiwary and off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin were taken to Sri Lanka as just tourists. Both are promising youngsters in their own rights and surely they deserved at least one outing in the centre.

 

It was all about the Virender Sehwag show as far as India were concerned and it’s scary to contemplate what might have been had Sehwag not fired. He was by far India’s top performer among batsmen with 268 runs at an impressive average of 67. Skipper Dhoni was a distant second with 140 runs at an average of 35.

 

Another bitter pill to swallow for the Indians is the fact their top order has been totally and completely exposed by the absence of Sachin Tendulkar and Gautam Gambhir. Those two not being there in the line up proved to be too much for Team India to deal with.

 

What about the Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS) that was rejected by India before the start of the Test series against Sri Lanka? The Indians were at the receiving end of some horrendous umpiring decisions in the tri-series competition.

 

Not to opt for the system might come back to haunt India since there is a possibility of it being used in the 2011 World Cup. There is plenty of work ahead for the Indian team and the challenge lies in the fact that things need to be sorted out before the start of the World Cup.