One debate settled for now

The astonishing collapse of the Lankans thanks to some extremely disciplined and intelligent bowing by Praveen Kumar may have settled one debate at least, if India (and they must) make it to the final today itself.

The Indians will surely be going in with five bowlers for the best of three-tussle, unless they suffer an unexpected batting collapse today and reach the finals only courtesy an Australian win over Lanka.

That is perfectly logical too. Going by the way this series has gone, low scores have dominated the scoresheets of all the three sides, with just two 270+ scores possible in the series so far.

So it makes sense to continue with five-bowler policy to ensure that the Australians are not allowed to get away with their free-flowing ways. If they make runs, they are virtually impossible to chase.

And how an effective fifth bowler (Praveen Kumar today) can change the complexion of a game! At 72 for one after 14 overs, Lankans looked unstoppable. And at 93 for seven after 26 overs, the same side was looking so miserable.

The only debate now will be the batting composition. Sehwag may not have delivered in the ODI series, but so have some other senior batsmen. Tendulkar has so far failed to reach a fifty while Yuvraj managed just one, though a match-clincher against Sri Lanka.

The pressure is going to be far less today and with Sri Lanka not likely to go much above 100, the do-or-die battle may have fizzled out, providing an opportunity, at least to Tendulkar, to get back to his Test Series’ form. A fifty from him today will make India feel little more secure going into the business end of the CB series, a tourney they have never won.