"R. Bharat Rao"  wrote in message 
news:08c04e7b-bbab-4f12-9671-94f70c16f8ae@k37g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
> After India won the toss on a batting beauty in the decisive Test,
> many a team would have wilted -- especially after the blistering start
> straight out of T20.  Instead some disciplined bowling and intelligent
> use of the review system, and India choked and fell apart under the
> slowly increasing pressure as the runs dried up.  Zaheer and Ishant
> showed how few terrors the wicket had for those prepared to bat
> intelligently.
>
> Mendis seems to get 5 wicket hauls by birthright, and I doubt if any
> debutant (or indeed any player) has ever taken a 3-fer with so many
> runs scored by the batsmen -- almost 28,900 runs between Sehwag,
> Dravid, & Tendulkar, all snagged by "pinch me, I must be dreaming"
> Prasad.  Those wickets have been well discussed, and Mendis ran
> through the side after Ganguly failed to read Murali -- Laxman yet
> again falling to playing across a Mendis delivery from outside off.
>
> Basically, India has to get SL out for under 350, preferably under
> 300, and bat much better the second time around.  If SL gets over 400,
> its goodbye darling, and that may also be true for some of the famed
> trio of Dravid-Tendulkar-Ganguly, who have managed 80-81-78 runs
> respectively.  Most puzzling is Tendulkar who has looked in very good
> nick (in contrast to Dravid who has been living through some personal
> hell since he gave up the captaincy)...  But if we lose this one
> miserably, some heads may roll.
>
> Bharat




Kumble is making a big mistake by sending out of form and confidence
Dravid at #3 and sending Laxman at #6.

Laxman has been getting good starts but failing to turn them into big ones
because of batting with the tail.  Yesterday he handled  Dammika Prasads
pace very well compared to the rest of the Fab 4.

Hopefully common sense prevails and kumble sends Laxman at #3 despite
T1 I2.