As Sri Lankan Cricket chairman Arjuna Ranatunga sits in his office overlooking the ground, he has a ringside view of the Indian batting collapse. The broad smile on his face is for the flawless show by his team, but he suddenly gets profound when asked about the error-prone Indians. “The way that the Indians have played this Test is an eye-opener not just for us but for all cricket-playing countries. They dealt with this like a Twenty20 game. I think they were not prepared for Test cricket,” he says.There were quite a few facts and figures in India’s innings and 239-run loss — their third worst defeat ever — that made Ranatunga arrive to this conclusion. Besides the audacious strokeplay, the one fact that stood out was that just two Indian batsmen in this Test — VVS Laxman and Gautam Gambhir — played more than 60 balls. Incidentally, that’s 10 overs, half of a T20 game. At the SSC, the locals get busy celebrating the launch of the deadly spin-duo of Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis, it doesn’t stop them from taking a dig at the high-profile Indian batting line-up. Sri Lankan chief selector Asantha de Mel, spotting a few Indian scribes, gets in a mood for some banter. “Didn’t you guys say that your batsmen were not worried about Mendis? And by the way, why did ‘The Wall’ dropped down the order. Maybe, it’s a second wall of defence,” he says, commenting on VVS Laxman coming in to bat one down instead of Rahul Dravid in the second innings. Meanwhile, Ranatunga starts by saying that he doesn’t have the right to speak on Indian cricket, but he does make a few pertinent points. “The Indian batsmen aren’t too focussed. That is something that can creep into our cricket. That is something I don’t want to happen. The money that you earn is good, but if you can’t protect the game, that could lead to a disaster,” he says, hinting at how India’s Twenty20 focus has affected their preparation for Tests. ‘Priorities wrong’The mode of dismissals of the Indian batsmen seen in this virtual three-day match — dragged on to the fourth day only because of two washed off sessions on Day One — substantiates the point Ranatunga is trying to make. It all started with Virender Sehwag’s needless pull off a short-pitched delivery well outside the off stump in the first innings on Friday, and ended with India’s tailenders swinging their bats that is unworthy of someone wearing whites. Ranatunga also warned against the long-term consequences of neglecting Test cricket. “If the Indians keep getting their priorities wrong, they will go down ranking-wise. Ultimately, it is the rank that is very important. And it is this performance that will determine the future of the game in your country. Focus on the Twenty20 game is a short-term thing. If the game is not protected, we are in for a major disaster,” he cautions.
