Captain Marvel

When both teams don’t deserve to lose, there can never be a better result than this. It is entirely unbelievable to watch this CB Series that keep producing tight finishes every day.

Captain Marvel

When the straight boundary is longer than 90 meters even the cleanest of hitter would find it intimidating. The astute skipper, positioned his fielders closer than usual (both inside & outside the circle), thus restricting the batsmen with 3 choices only.  

1. Pierce the gap

2. Play over the infield

3. Play for the stand.

The third option is ruled out (unless you are Dhoni) considering the distance. However, it is still a possibility to Clear Square of the wicket if and only the bowler dishes short of length. What are the odds of short stuff when the bowling unit doesn’t have an express pace man???

So, the batsman can only slice the field or chip it over. Playing over infield is suicidal as no batsman is born yet to control the ball in air. Especially when the deep fielders are not on the line the batsman can never be sure of lobbing the ball either front them or behind them. That leaves no other option but to penetrate the gap. This was not happening today as Captain Marvel Jayawardene completely worked out the geometry with close in fielders standing as fortress, forcing the runners to err on calls. The tactical field set derived a fantastic result called TIE to this wonderful match played between Sri Lanka and India.

From India’s standpoint, with the fort of fieldsmen around, Dhoni & Co had no alternative but to watch like a hawk for the prey. In the end the patience richly paid off. The pressure of the situation got to Mathews when he delivered a waist high full toss. Irfan Pathan left no stone unturned as he whacked it over midwicket boundary that took India closer to the target. After a high octane drama (with the trademark Dhoni Six), Captain Cool prevailed with a handsome result for India. (Only he could have done it)

Usually I don’t get too much into technicalities in my posts. Today is an exception. After all, Captain Marvel deserve the details.

Politically Irfan Pathan did the thing right by sacrificing his wicket for his skipper only to earn a spot for the next game against Australia.

Though the points table portray different picture, Sri Lanka are no walkovers. I already smell the Lankan victory round the corner.

Bottom line: It cannot be more nerve racking than this.

Dinesh

Cricket Lover

PS: Media selling 5 ball over is an insult to this game. It happens in cricket.