When Arjuna Ranatunga put India in to bat, he surely would not have dreamt what lay in store for him and his team. It was a do-or-die situation for both teams, the ifs and buts notwithstanding. But the defending captain would not have reckoned that Saurav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid would play the finest innings of their careers to set up an all-time record partnership for any wicket in World Cup cricket. It was mind-boggling stuff alright.The Indians, they say, are late bloomers, especially when on tour. This seemed to be true, and after Sachin Tendulkar showed them the way, Ganguly, who missed out on a big innings against Kenya, did not let himself or his team down. He along with Dravid, literally went on a rampage to post a huge total that virtually knocked the stuffing out of Sri Lanka.Such was the dominance of the duo that the hapless bowlers did not know just where to pitch the next delivery. They milked the bowling, clobbering each and every delivery as the fours and sixes flowed from their bladesas if it were a festival match. Interestingly, the World Cup is called the `carnival of cricket', and the display by the Indian batsmen fits that description to a T.It was a classic innings that Dravid essayed. I've noticed, and written, in earlier despatches, that Dravid looks a lot more determined in this World Cup than ever before. His body language is more positive and his shot production is not only of high quality but consistent too. It is an excellent sign, for, earlier he used to bat well, but only in patches. He's a high class batsman, and the way he's batting one can expect such quality innings from him more often.Ganguly was in his element no sooner he saw Dravid bat like a champ at the other end. Not one to lag behind, he unleashed some of his favourite shots, some of them even landing outside the Taunton ground.Those were the days when Viv Richards and Ian Botham indulged in some big hitting on this very ground, and I'm sure locals were reminded of the duo while watching Ganguly andDravid in full flow.The Sri Lankans looked totally demoralised and low on confidence. They just could not exploit the helpful conditions in the morning, and their fielding, which is highly rated by critics, was extremely poor to say the least. They dropped straight-forward catches and their ground fielding was far below the mark.When the Lankans began their chase, a lot was expected of Sanath Jayasuriya and Aravinda de Silva. They have been short of runs on this tour and the moving ball has not done their confidence any good. The wicket at Taunton was ideally suited for their kind of strokeplay, but unfortunately for Lanka, Jayasuriya was run out even before he settled down. The top order perished in the face of some spirited bowling by Srinath and Mohanty. The latter, in particular, bowled very well in both games. He pitched the ball up and got it to move, and his kind of line and length is always useful when the wicket has something in it for the bowlers. He ought to be careful though not to pitch theball too far upto the batsman, but just short of a length that would curb the batsman from going for a drive - that would be ideal for him.No doubt, the Indian total appeared insurmountable for the Lankans. But what surprised me the most was that they threw in the towel without so much as a semblence of a fightback. That was very unbecoming of the defending world champs.
