Sri Lanka is the Winner of 2008 Crcket Test Series between Sri Lanka and India !

Well, it is a marvelous win for the Sri Lanka team in the third Test to have beaten India Convincingly 2-1 in the three Test series. It was a grueling test of skills and all round good performance by Sri Lanka Team. India was let down in the batting department as it was never sure how to counter the spin strategy of Sri Lanka. Being a team from sub continent India should have played spin better. But all through the series batsmen failed to read the bowlers off the pitch, off the hand, off the sight.


Sehwag's double is his style of play and is not the orthodox style of play against the spin. And it should show that the batsmen lost the battle playing the spinners of Ajantha Mendis and Muttiah Muralitharan. They have spun Sri Lanka to a memorable win.

It was a too late rear guard action from Laxman and Dravid when all of the Indian batting lineup left for the dressing room in a hurry who tried hard to delay the inevitable.

Dhoni factor

The pundits of the game would have started the obituary of the series loss to Sri Lanka. I think the credit goes to Sri Lankan bowlers who bowled out the Indian fabulous batting line in all of the innings in the series without making much damage. It was only sehwags individual brilliance that saved the day for India, harbhajan and Ishant supporting the cause in the bowling department.

And if Dhoni's absence from the team is being held out as a factor, I suggest it is the excessive cricket that is being heaped on an individual than cursing his decision to take rest. He has the right to preserve his cricket from unacceptable loads of cricket that a cricketer's schedule comprises of these days.

India missed too many chances behind the wicket, were outclassed by Sri Lankan spinners in the batting department and the bowlers didn't had any runs on the board to work around. So, individual brilliance winning a Test is a miracle and only a batsmen of Sehwags calibre can perform such glorious innings. But an allround team performance is what counts to lay stakes to the title. And Sri Lanka stood out clearly in this department. Kumara Sangakkara was quite through out the series and played the innings of the series when mattered the most and that innings swept the match away from India's sight.

And England has salvaged some pride winning the last test at Oval after losing the series to South Africa earlier. It is a remarkable 2-1 series victory for South Africa under Graeme Smith who has led the team convincingly again. The series will be remembered for Vaughans relinquishing captaincy after losing the Series to England midway.

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