India will bounce back, says Gambhir

Galle: With the humiliating loss in Colombo still rankling the Indian cricket team, Indian opener Gautam Gambhir today asserted that the visitors will find a way to tackle the menacing spin duo of Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis in the second cricket Test starting July 31 here.

"We had a bad Test but now we are very positive. We want to come hard at the Sri Lankans. They have a quality spin attack... Muralitharan is a legend. It will be a fantastic battle because we have guys who can play good spin," Gambhir said.

The Indians lost the match in less than four days after collapsing against Mendis and Muralitharan but Gambhir insisted that the spin duo was "not unplayable." "You have to bat according to your strength. Mentally you have to be very sound when your are playing at this level. The wicket looks similar to the one in Colombo," he said.

'Murali bowled like a dream'

Mumbai: India’s last Test tour in Sri Lanka in 2001 is not remembered extensively because of a variety of reasons. Most importantly because India fielded a second-string side due to injuries to key players such as Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Javagal Srinath, Anil Kumble and Ashish Nehra.

The only saving grace for the Indian team was the opening pair of Shiv Sundar Das and Sadagoppan Ramesh. India started of on the wrong note in the very first Test match, losing by a thumping 10-wicket margin. According to Ramesh, the primary reason for the humiliating loss was the fact that India missed Kumble’s services.

“We obviously missed Kumble since Harbhajan was emerging on the scene but wasn’t confident of leading the spin-attack,” Ramesh told cricketnirvana.com. 1985 Recap | 1993 Recap | 1997 Recap Scorecards: India in Sri Lanka 2001

This was surprising because just a few months prior to this series, Harbhajan had bowled himself into history books with his match-winning spells against Australia at home.

”Harbhajan was obviously high on confidence after we had beaten Australia at home but he was under too much pressure, especially since the media was comparing him with Muralitharan and building a battle between them.”

The inexperience in the Indian middle-order made the then Indian coach John Wright base his strategy around the opening pair of Das and Ramesh. In his short international career, Ramesh was a naturally flamboyant player but in this series he was not the same.

“I was told by my coach John Wright to put my head down and bat throughout this tour. It was an obvious game plan and I was told to bat out time. Shiv Sundar Das gave me fantastic company and I thought we formed a steady combination.”

The high point of the Test series for the visitors came when they managed to square the series at Kandy in the second Test. This was despite the fact that pace spearhead Javagal Srinath had to return home due to a finger injury.

“When everyone was writing us off it was a great feeling to chase a target of 264 runs against Muralitharn in his prime. The key was the way Ganguly and Dravid tackled Murali. The win really lifted the morale of the team.”

But India were brought back down to earth in the series-deciding Test at Colombo. After Das and Ramesh put on a 100-plus stand, Murali weaved his magic to leave the Indians in a spin.

“We lost the Test match because Muralitharan bowled like a dream and picked up 8 wickets on the very first day. That is where we lost the initiative and the series.

As a parting shot Ramesh recalls what he believes was the best ball he ever faced, during the second innings of the third Test match.

“The delivery pitched on and around the off stump area, spun viciously and clipped my leg stump. I could not believe what happened.”