The Wizard of Galle
Brave words need to be backed by brave deeds. The Indian cricket team, regrettably, failed to live up to its boast of frustrating spin genius Muttiah Muralitharan’s bid to take eight wickets in his last test match to become the first cricketer in history to bag 800 wickets. While they were about it, they also slumped to a humiliating ten-wicket loss in the first Test in Sri Lanka at Galle, putting their position as the number one test team in jeopardy.
India put up a pathetic display in the match, being made to follow on and then being trounced even though a whole day’s play was washed out because of rain. India’s performance was all the more shocking because, while nothing great was expected from the hamstrung bowling attack, the failure of its so-called star-studded batting line up was quite unexpected.
This was seen more clearly in the second innings, in which India’s fighting total of 338 runs was mostly built around gritty contributions from the tailenders. Ahimanyu Mithun (25), Ishant Sharma (31 not out) and Pragyan Ojha (13) showed the class that most of the top order sorely lacked, making the Lankan bowlers sweat to get the visitors out and taking India out of the possible ignominy of an innings defeat to take a slender lead. This, Sri Lankan openers Tillakaratne Dilshan and Tharanga Paranavitana efficiently and rapidly overhauled, to give Sri Lanka a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
But the day belonged to Muthiah Muralitharan, as indeed did the entire match. The spin wizard dominated his swansong Test at Galle. He captured five wickets in the first innings and then three in the second, to take his overall wicket tally to the 800 he had set for himself as a challenge in his final test; a case where – unlike India – his deeds matched his words.
Appropriately, Murali was given a guard of honour on the third day of the match by both the teams. His entire family turned to watch him get to the record on the final day. Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse flew in to congratulate him, and presented him with a special memento.
Legendary Australian leg spinner Shane Warne is the second-highest wicket-taker in the world, but he has a tally of only 708, and he is already retired. Most of the remaining Top 10 wicket-takers in the world have also retired, so Murali’s record is likely to be unmatched for a long, long time to come.
But will Murali’s departure bring any relief for India? It has to put up a much better performance in the second Test starting on 26 July in Colombo. For, another defeat could dislodge India from the number one position. If Sri Lanka wins the series, India would lose four rating points and come down to the third position behind South Africa. Sri Lanka, on the other hand, will gain six points and become the number one test team.
PPP plague
Does the Goa government realise what its responsibility is to the ‘aam admi’ in whose name it rules? If it did, we would not have a plague of PPP (public-private partnership) projects on our hands. When the government cannot assure basic necessities like electricity and water, how can it even talk about privatising these things?
Several parts of North Goa get extremely irregular water supply. In these circumstances, to pursue a PPP project for supplying potable water from Opa is plainly irresponsible. The Selaulim Dam has a plentiful supply of water, but that is not the case at Opa, where water levels dip precariously during the summer. Under these circumstances, giving water to private entities to sell at premium prices will only deprive the ‘aam admi’ further.
