Sri Lanka did what India could not. In fact they did a lot more than India has done on last two overseas tours combined. And Sri Lanka did that as underdogs. They weren’t the number ones. They were no ones. A team in transition. While India was the favourite on both the tours. Yet the outcome of the tours couldn’t have been anymore different.
Sri Lanka fought back from 3-0 down, including one utterly humiliating loss, to end the series at a much more honourable 2-3 loss. Granted the South Africans rested key players but Sri Lankans still had to win the matches. They fought back and claimed wins. They gave it their everything.
Even bigger than the 2 ODI wins was their win at Durban, where they bounced back from a comprehensive innings defeat at the Centurion to register their first ever Test win in South Africa. That was some statement. Even though South Africa drubbed them at Capetown to take the series 2-1, this victory by Sri Lanka made the world sit up and take notice. They were the no longer pitiful travelers. They proved that they had it in them to beat any team and in any conditions. For long they have been labeled tigers at home and lambs abroad. But their performances on this tour must have laid that notion to rest. Post Murali Sri Lanka was expected to lose its competitiveness. But this Sri Lankan team in transition is a team that is looking to grow beyond the limitation of its predecessors.
So Sri Lanka lost the Test series 2-1 and the ODI series 3-2. It is far cry from India ‘s 4-0 Test and 4-0 ODI defeats in England and the current 3-0 (likely 4-0) situation in Australia. What do Sri Lanka do? They have already decided to fire Geoff Marsh barely 4 months of hiring him as a coach and are hiring Graham Ford as his replacement. News is that Dilshan is also set to lose the captaincy. I am not saying that it is the coach’s fault. But clearly SLC could see in these matches that perhaps Marsh was not the right guy to coach this team. It may be very harsh on Marsh but that is how life works.
What is India doing? Well they still haven’t gotten around to finding out what the hell has Eric Simons been teaching the Indian bowlers since they seem to be getting worse by the day? BCCI knows the short term memory of the public in India and very well know that a win in Asia Cup would mean that everything is forgotten. But what if India loses in Asia Cup? Then what will BCCI do? Whatever be the decision, it will be motivated by money for sure. Cricket is just another game.