Shameful Batting Display by Indian Cricketers at Colombo

Indian test team need to be revamped with the infusion of young and dynamic players to the team. It became clear that India's "Big 4" can no longer hold themselves to take up the challenges of modern day cricket. Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman all faltered in the recent series against Sri Lanka. They just failed to lift themselves. the failure of top four batsmen have compounded India's problems to a great extent.

In the third and final test match at Colombo, Indian batsmen yet again produced a lacklustre batting performance and perished without a fight. Barring Gautam Gambhir, none of the Indian batsmen had any answer to Sri Lanka's bowling attack.

At one stage, India were 92/1. But they soon lost the momentum and bowled out for 249. India managed to reach 249, because of a last wicket partnership of 51 between Ishant and Zaheer. Gambhir was the top scorer with 72. Ganguly scored 35, while Laxman made 25. Zaheer scored a brilliant 32.

Laxman, who was considered as the best batsman against spin bowling, fell to Sri Lanka's new sensation Ajantha Mendis for the fifth time in a row. Mendis has so far claimed Rahul Dravid's wicket four times in this series. Since the Asia Cup final in Pakistan, Mendis has maintained a firm control over Indian batsmen and except Sehwag, no one has been able to read him properly. Mendis took 5 wickets in India's first innings. Prasad claimed three wickets, while Muralitharan took 2 wickets.