Assessing the Sri Lankan changes for the final

[vcs]

Very interesting thoughts, HB. I am reminded of the Test India won last year at the P. Sara Oval chasing 250 odd in the 4th innings on day 5, and you said similar things about Sanga's captaincy, especially the ease with which he was allowing singles to VVS and Sachin.

[centurymaker]

Should've played Mendis even though the indians have worked him out. If not Mendis, then should've definitely gone for Herath.

[Spark]

Originally Posted by vcs

Very interesting thoughts, HB. I am reminded of the Test India won last year at the P. Sara Oval chasing 250 odd in the 4th innings on day 5, and you said similar things about Sanga's captaincy, especially the ease with which he was allowing singles to VVS and Sachin.

TBF basically every Test captain in the last few years does that, some worse than others.

[vcs]

Not entirely sure Mendis and Herath would have changed a whole lot TBH, but they deserved to be picked if for no other reason than that they had played their part in taking SL to the finals, and you just don't drop people like that on a horses for courses basis.

[vcs]

Originally Posted by Spark

TBF basically every Test captain in the last few years does that, some worse than others.

I think Dhoni is essentially a defensive captain, but when defending gettable targets, he is much more proactive.

[centurymaker]

Originally Posted by pup11

I agree that Sanga's captaincy is pretty dire when the pressure is on, I can't help but think that the decision to include 4 new players in a final would have largely been taken by him and it probably has to go down as one of the most dumb decisions in the history of international cricket.

Having players like Samarweera, Silva in the squad ahead of blokes likes Chandimal or Kandambi was a negative decision to start of with, but in the final axing Mendis, Herath in favour of Kulasekara and Randiv was extremely lame.

Sri Lanka were negative for most of the tournament and they were just lucky that their top 4 batsmen had such a great tournament otherwise they would have really struggled to reach this far.

A year or two back he was the NO.1 ODI bowler and don't forget that he scored crucial 30 odd runs. Also, his six off the 1st ball of the 2nd last over of Zaheer really shifted the momentum in his team's favour!

[honestbharani]

Originally Posted by vcs

Very interesting thoughts, HB. I am reminded of the Test India won last year at the P. Sara Oval chasing 250 odd in the 4th innings on day 5, and you said similar things about Sanga's captaincy, especially the ease with which he was allowing singles to VVS and Sachin.

Yep.. It is not just defensive field settings though.. In ODIs, it is obvious he is just so desperate to have the cushion of 8 overs or so from Malinga and Murali/Mendis up his sleeve in the last ten, irrespective of what the position of the opposition is around the 10 or 15 over mark.. To me, it just smacks of "let me ensure I don get thrashed first" mentality and with the talent at his disposal, that should the last thing Sanga should be thinking about...

Originally Posted by Spark

TBF basically every Test captain in the last few years does that, some worse than others.

Not when BOTH batsmen are new...