Watch, learn from Dimuth

Dimuth Karunaratne during his 107 v India at Bangalore recently. Pic/AFP

India cleaned up yet another series win with another three-day finish to move up the points table for the World Test Championship. Their next few Test matches are likely to be away from home and with what happened in South Africa it is understandable that they did not want to take any chances and prepared pitches that suited their strength. What that does do however is that the batsmen, who the crowds come to watch, are also troubled by the opposition bowlers and unable to get the big scores that their millions of followers want to see. On pitches which are challenging, a batsman needs not only technique and temperament, but a huge dose of luck too.

The other approach is to bat in the limited overs method, where the batsman regularly takes a chance trusting his power and timing to hit the ball into the stands or the open spaces. Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer did that with aplomb and in the process showed that with a bit of daring and some luck, runs could be scored.

Pant, Iyer's modern approach

If Pant and Iyer used the modern approach to score attractively, the Sri Lankan captain, Dimuth Karunaratne trusted the good old fashioned one of technique and gumption to get one of the great hundreds in Test cricket. A video of his certainty around the off-stump, the use of soft hands to smother the turn and bounce, but above all, playing the ball as late as possible can be a terrific educational one for budding youngsters on how to bat and score on a pitch where the ball turned from the first day itself. While the turn was not vicious and not every delivery spun, it still necessitated loads of self-belief and determination to battle it out and the Lankan skipper showed that in more than ample measure.

Crucial century

His century in the fourth innings saved a potentially ticklish situation for the ICC match referee, Javagal Srinath, who otherwise would have had to report adversely on his home town pitch. Just a few days earlier, the pitch in the first Test match in Pakistan between the hosts and Australia had produced a mountain of runs with the bowlers toiling in despair.

The second Test also was not much better, but an unexpected collapse of the Pakistan batting in the first innings meant that the match was thrown wide open. Despite having a huge lead of almost 400 runs, the Australians did not enforce the follow on. Coincidentally, that day happened to be the 21st anniversary of that masterful unforgettable partnership between VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid, who back then had batted the whole day after India were asked to follow on by Steve Waugh, the then Australian captain. On the last day, India bowled out Australia in the fourth innings on a pitch which had started to help the spinners with Harbhajan Singh being well nigh unplayable. The Australians obviously haven't forgotten that and how could they, when they were in the neighbouring country.

Vishy gets warm reception

It was also heartwarming to see that the BCCI and the Karnataka State Cricket Association had not forgotten Gundappa Viswanath and gave him the honour of launching his autobiography at his beloved Chinnaswamy Stadium. It was truly touching to see the warm reception Vishy got from the crowd as also the current Indian players walk up to him despite being in a bubble and wish him. Vishy is perhaps among the handful of great players who are adored all over the world with not a single enemy.

There was perhaps just a small period when he was chairman of the national selection committee when the usual talk about favouring Karnataka players made the rounds. But those who knew Vishy also knew that in a country as vast as India there will always be those who, being biased themselves, will point fingers at those with unimpeachable integrity.

Last year, the BCCI and Gujarat Cricket Association felicitated me on completing 50 years of involvement with Indian cricket and this time, BCCI alongwith KSCA, honoured GRV by allowing the launch of his memoirs at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in the middle of a Test match despite the delicate COVID situation. Truly no amount of thanks will be enough from our side for these magnificent gestures and to the well wishers who made it all possible.

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