Micromax Cup Cricket: Sri Lanka Thrash India In Second ODI!

Indian cricket tour of Sri Lanka-2012. The same venue of Hambantota like in the first one day international that

India

won by 21 runs following a powerful batting display. Only the strip was different and Indian skipper Dhoni happened to see some more grass there, and that a strong wind was blowing. But Lankan skipper Mahela said it was dead grass, but, of course, wind was unusual in that venue. Again, a same day and night affair like in the first.

The same result in the toss—Indiawinning. The same decision—to bat first. And, the same team, no changes. But for a change the Indian innings began well today. They had a brisk start scoring 31 runs under 4 overs with Gambhir and Sehwag going strong. Then, it was entirely a different tale to tell.

Virender Sehwag started the slide giving a fierce Perera his first wicket. It was a downhill journey then onwards. Classy Virat Kohli fell to Perera for just 1 in the sixth over. Rohit Sharma who failed in the first ODI too was the third to go in the 7^thover bowled by Matthews for a duck. Raina joined in the hara-kiri by getting out to Perera in the 8^th over. India were reduced to 41/4 with Perera capturing three wickets for just 15 runs in six overs.

Skipper Dhoni was expected to try steadying the innings as Gautam Gambhir was holding fort in the other end. But that was not to be. Dhoni was removed by Matthews pretty soon. With some rearguard action by R Ashwin (21 run out) Gambhir managed to take the score to 138 when he was the last man out for 65—the highest score of the innings. Indiawere bowled out for 138 in 33.3 overs. It was one of the numerous unpredictable batting collapses for a team supposedly having the strongest batting lineup of the world. For Sri Lanka Perera and Matthews took three wickets each while Malinga chipped in late with two wickets including that of Gambhir. Ominously for India, the last wicket fell in the first over of the batting powerplay—an area of constant concern.

A target of 139 runs in full quota of fifty overs for a strong team like Sri Lanka at home was farthest from a respectable one. It was not a good target even for a T20 game! The Sri Lankan innings started after the usual 10 minute break as it was early days for dinner. They started confidently and headed for a professional finish. The Indian bowlers had a task cut out for them.

The agony for Indiawas mercifully over as early as in the 20^th over. The Indian bowlers seemed to have just completed the formality of delivering the balls, giving away as many as 24 extras. Openers Tharanga (59 not out) and Dilshan (50) almost did the job and Sri Lanka won by 9 wickets. TC Perera was adjudged the man of the match. It was a magnificent victory for Sri Lanka who outplayed India in all departments of the game. Indiasuffered a humiliation today and questions are likely to be raised again on Dhoni’s persistence with Rohit Sharma with Ajinkya Rahane and Manoj Tiwary sitting in the reserves. Indiacannot hope to regain the No.1 position in ICC rankings in this series either, because for that they needed to win 5-0. The Scorecard:

The scores are level at 1-1 in the five match ODI series and the competition is set to get keener. The third one day international is coming up on July 28 in Colombo.

The VIP Brat: A Study in Contrast!

Here we’re talking about only two compartments inside a particular AC 2-Tier coach in a particular daily train under the Indian Railways that departs a particular originating station at around noontime and reaches the destination city early morning the next day. The train is popular because it is superfast and always on time. That fateful noon too, the train was ready for boarding about one hour before departure. We cut to the inside of that particular coach having those two compartments for our contrasting study. Two elderly couples were in a state of considerable distress. One of them, both technically senior citizens, had been allotted two upper berths and the husband was at his wits end how to proceed, because his wife was being taken for check-up after surgeries in both of her knees—she could hardly walk and her climbing up the berth was a sheer impossibility. The husband was also on the wrong side of the sixties, but he thought he could manage the climbing once he managed a ...

Mitali: The Trauma of Losing a Sibling

Maybe I lied to her when I used to reassure her that she was going to be alright and was going to resume her life in some measure of normalcy in the future years; maybe all my gestures/expressions were false when I used to run my fingers across her forehead or embrace her on occasions when she was able to move around a bit; and maybe all my exhibitions of love care and responsibility were exposed as superficial when I failed to turn up in Delhi where she along with my mother were treated during September-October, 2022 (my mother Urmila Chakravarty was also diagnosed with dental cancer the same month the same year as she was) and when all the members of my parental family and the in-laws converged. Since that fateful day in August, 2022 when she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer to that disastrous day of March 6, 2025—the day my younger blood sister Mitali (Mainu) Chakravarty Sarma (November 2, 1963—March 6, 2025) passed away in the wee hours in a hospital in Guwahati after giving a bra...

Release of Book 'Randomized: A Dozen Short Stories'!

The fourth collection of stories titled 'Randomized: A Dozen Short Stories' by Chinmay Chakravarty has been released on Amazon KDP just now! This collection, short stories in a lighter vein plus with mild satire like the previous collections, has been published in both the E-book and Paperback formats. The links are given below: International: Click Here ! India: Click Here ! Other collections of short stories by the same author: The Cheerless Chauffeur and Other Tales(2021)--Notion Press. Funny and Fishy Tales(2022)--KDP. The Weirdos(2022)--Ukiyoto Publishing. All books of the author are available on Goodreads, apart from Amazon and other outlets! Have a look!