Did Mahela miss a trick ?

Mahela Jayawardena made all right decisions in the tri-series. From team composition, field placements, bowling rotations and elevating him to top of the order.  But the decision yesterday to bowl first against an injury ridden Australia team is one he may regret while on the plane to Bangladesh this morning.

After successfully chasing 271 on a couple of night ago on the same pitch the decision to bowl first seemed correct at the time.  At the toss he clearly stated there was no point alerting this long batting order and he stuck with extra batsmen, Chamara Kapugedera, over the off spinner Senanayke as he wanted to chase a total.

Mahela’s thought process would have been to restrict Australia to 260 and then chase it down with his strong batting order. Sometimes in cricket though, it is the target of 230 that becomes more difficult to chase rather than 260 plus. This is because of the mental state of the batsman and rather than the way pitch is playing.  It is also easier to bat fluently when there is nothing to lose and a fast start is mandatory chasing a score over 260 plus.

The way Sri Lanka batted in the first few over’s was a clear indication their mindset was to play strokes and the mindset had already been set after the past two matches when Sri Lanka were chasing big totals.

There was nothing wrong in the way they started but even for guys like Sangakarra and Jayawardena or any great batsman it is difficult to curb your aggressive instincts all of the sudden. Unfortunately, it only takes one ball and the batsman pay their price and that is exactly what happened. 

In contrast had Sri Lanka batted first and fell short of a target there bowling unit had proved there capable of defending modest totals. The Melbourne match was a perfect example when they bowled and fielded brilliantly to restrict the Australians.  It was lot easier for bowlers to come out of their mindset’s than batsmen. The bowlers can make a couple of mistakes along the way while the batsman cannot. 

Furthermore, the Sri Lankans were playing on same pitch from two days ago. It was getting drier as the match went on and the spinners would have an impact. The Australian middle order apart from David Hussey have not faced quality spin bowling on a track that is taking some turn, it would have been difficult for them to chase even a low score on such a wicket. Especially, without Michael Clarke the middle order was venerable against spin and Jayawardena could have exposed the batsman while defending a total.

Sri Lanka resurgence in this tournament is largely due to Jayawardena captaincy. As a captain you have more control of your team while fielding rather than batting.  Yesterday had Sri Lanka only scored 220, Jayawardena would have had more control of his team.  At the end of the he cannot control shield Maharoof from a good ball but he certainly can set a field for a bad ball.

Finally, the Australians had only chased once in this tournament and looked out of place in that match.  Shane Watson admitted at the toss they would have batted first, so electing to bowl first was ensuring the Australian were in their comfort zone.  

Playing on such a wicket was an ideal opportunity for Sri Lanka to beat the Australians and one feels Mahela missed a trick by opting to bowl first.