It’s the hour of reckoning now

The much-talked about bowling attack, which the Indian skipper Saurav Ganguly went so far as to describe as the best in the world during the slog overs, came to nought in the absence of seamer Venkatesh Prasad and leg-spinner Anil Kumble as Sri Lankan batsmen made merry.

The batting line-up also exposed gaping holes with the services of Rahul Dravid being sorely missed. Newcomer Sridharan Sriram has been found wanting and Vinod Kambli and Yuvraj Singh have not measured up to the task expected of them.

But Ganguly put up a brave face saying he was confident his team was capable of turning the tables on the Sri Lankans tomorrow. “Today was a bad day for us. But Sunday is a new day and we will be up for it,” Ganguly said after last night’s loss.

India have played well in the last one month reaching the final of the ICC knock-out tournament in Nairobi after beating teams like Australia and South Africa. However, consistency seems to be lacking as they let New Zealand run away with the trophy after putting up a decent 264 runs in the final.

They have more or less struggled in this tournament with both their wins against Zimbabwe being close affairs. Sri Lankans have outplayed them in every department of the game in the two matches though the dew factor also has played its part in India’s losses.

And here they are now in the final, once again against the islanders, requiring a Herculean effort to win and prove Indian cricket was indeed on the road to recovery. Ganguly was aware of the task ahead of his team. “I have already lost a final. I cannot afford to lose another,” he said.

The skipper said he hoped Kumble and Prasad, whose absence cost India dearly in yesterday’s match, would be back in the team for the final.

However, the major problem continues to be the batting with Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar required to share most of the burden. If India hope to entertain any chances of winning tomorrow, other batsmen will have to come good.

The one positive point for India in this tournament has been the performance of the lower-order batsmen who have been among the runs even in pressure situations and Ganguly would hope they do well once again though he would not exactly prefer a situation where the tailenders have to do the batsmen’s job.

On the other hand, the Sri Lankans have performed exceptionally well and seem to be doing everything right. They are unbeaten in this tournament having defeated both India and Zimbabwe quite comfortably and go into the final as favourites to win the competition.

Captain Sanath Jayasuriya has led his side from the front performing well both with the bat and the ball. Marvan Atapattu and Mahela Jayawardene, both of whom scored centuries yesterday, have also been in tremendous touch.

Romesh Kaluwitharana, Russel Arnold, Kumara Sangakkara and even Chaminda Vaas have made the most of the limited opportunities available to them as batsmen and Sri Lanka should not have much problems either setting or chasing a big target tomorrow.

Their bowlers have also done their job admirably well. The pace attack of Vaas and Nuwan Zoysa has troubled the batsmen regularly and master spinner Muthiah Muralitharan was virtually unplayable last night when he recorded the best ever figures of 7 for 30 in one-day cricket.

Their fielding has also been of the top order and at their current level of performance they seem sure to be running away with the final with ease.

Jayasuriya, however, realises the unpredictable nature of the game and warns against any complacency. “We have to come out and do it again on Sunday. All the effort of winning four games will go waste if we lose the final,” he said.