#365DaysOfWriting – Day Eighty-One
March 11–15, 2001.
Actually, March 14–15, 2001. Two fateful days 15 years ago that saw the mighty Australians stopped in their tracks by two pillars of Indian batting. VVS Laxman’s 281 is as famous as the Don’s 99.94, if not more. Let’s see the facts: India were following on after a woeful first innings of 171 all out (Australia has made 445). At the end of Day 3, India were 232/4 (thereabouts). VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid (180 after he was pushed down the order) proceeded to bat the whole of Day 4. On the last day, Harbhajan Singh proceeded to spin a web around the Aussies, and the rest is history.
That was a huge victory for India, and the psyche of the country in general.
Just two years back, Sachin captained India in what was a terrible tour to Australia. We promptly lost the tests 3–0, and in the ODI triangular series, won only one game – against Pakistan. The jeers of ‘tigers at home, lambs abroad’ continued unabated. This test victory in Kolkata came under a feisty, fiery Sourav Ganguly, and we as a country believed that we could beat anyone in the world from there on. Never mind that it was a home victory – it gave the team and the country belief.
We might be seeing an innings of similar stature from Kusal Mendis of Sri Lanka.
Currently there’s a test series going on between Australia and Sri Lanka, in Sri Lanka. Until today, the first test was going entirely Australia’s way. Consider this: Sri Lanka were shot out for 117 in the first innings. Australia managed to cobble together a handy 86-run lead. Sri Lanka slipped to 6/1 at the end of the second day, in their second innings, still 80 runs behind. There’s been rain in the midst of all this. And by the time they reached 86, they’d lost 4 wickets.
Then began the turnaround.
Kusal Mendis (currently batting on 169), first forged a stabilising partnership with Dinesh Chandimal (42) and then with DM de Silva (36). They have stretched Sri Lanka’s lead to a handy 196. And if Mendis gets good support from the tail, they can even dream of getting somewhere close to 275–300. Australia chasing that in the 4th innings against a wily Herath… things could get interesting!
And Sri Lankan cricket hasn’t been in the best of shape in the last 2 years after winning the World T20 in 2014. They’ve relied too much on Angelo Matthews, and they’ve lost series both home and away. Is Kusal Mendis their new hero? There was a false alarm last year, when they beat India from a similar position (following on), but promptly went on to lose the next 2 tests to concede the series. Chandimal had made 164 at that time.
This feels different though. Kusal Mendis has played a chanceless innings, compared to Chandimal who was wrongly reprieved by the umpire (TWICE) in that game.
This could be Sri Lanka’s VVS moment.
I may be speaking too soon, but Australia, unfortunately for them, may have run into another thorn in their side…
