Sri Lanka’s paper tigers on the prowl…
The run-fest at the ongoing second Test between India and Sri Lanka brings an important factor into the table that often gets muddled somewhere down the carpet whenever talks about the best batsmen in modern day cricket come into play.
Champion batsmen such as Brian Lara, Ricky Ponting and evergreen Sachin Tendulkar have not just made runs; they have MADE RUNS ON ALL SURFACES AND IN ALL SORTS OF PITCHES. Sachin’s superb century in Perth or Lara’s magical 200 against the Aussies in Sydney or Ponting’s magical double century in Melbourne are case in point.
Now, where do the Sangakkaras and the Jayawardenes come? Well, not in the same breadth actually. Statistics may show Sanga having scored 7652 runs in 89 Tests but out of his 24 Test tons, 16 have come at home against all attacks that lack teeth on sub-standard conditions. He has led Lanka well in all formats of the game since he got the captaincy from Mahela but greatness is something which will take time for Sanga to pick in.
Another lion that roars only on Lankan soil is Jayawardene who has time and again set batting records, sadly on his home soil. The man has scored at an impressive average of 66.12 at home in 63 Tests but the average drops down to a modest 43.10 away with nine centuries compared to 20 at home. He is yet to score a century in South Africa and has hit only a single fifty in Tests on testing conditions.
Now, for the man who just reached his 800th wicket in Tests and retiring on a high—Muttiah Muralitharan. He may be called a chucker by Bishen Singh Bedi but he has more wickets than anyone else in the world. The good Samaritan has often been on the wrong door of critics who have time and again questioned his action, though the governing body got it sorted out years ago.
He has been quite ordinary in Australia, picking wickets at an awful average of 75 plus and has had a stupendous track at home. Out of the 800 wickets he has taken, 493 have arrived in Sri Lankan shores while the rest outside.
While there may be many who would interpret statistics in a different mindset, I have tried to evaluate these three as they have played many Tests. The likes of Mendis, Paranavitana, Dilshan, Samaraweera will be thoroughly tested when they play in Australia. No surprisingly, Sri Lanka has never won a Test in Australia and South Africa, a record that will stand in good stead for some more years.
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