08 March,2011 06:30 AM IST | | Sai Mohan
India faced this scenario the last time they played a World Cup game at the Kotla. They should probably read this if they don't want a repeat!
The Indian bowling attack has come under a fair degree of criticism ever since Mahendra Singh Dhoni's team failed to win their second game of the 2011 World Cup against England on February 27.
There have been calls for Dhoni to beef up his bowling attack and reduce a batsman from his seven-man strong batting arsenal which he has had full faith in.
Despite the tall-scoring tied match against the Englishmen, the India captain has stuck to his four-bowler attack. Former World Cupper (1987, 1992 & 1996) Manoj Prabhakar reckons India must alter their bowling attack when they face Netherlands at the Kotla here tomorrow.u00a0 Prabhakar knows a bit about bowlers taking a beating on sub-continental pitches. He was at the receiving end of a rampaging Sri Lankan batting line-up when India played its last World Cup game at the Kotla on March 2, 1996.
"I don't see us getting too far if we continue with this bowling attack. The Delhi wicket is very batting friendly, and any total can be chased here because of the dew. It's high time off-spinner R Ashwin is picked," said Delhi-based Prabhakar, who wants Piyush Chawla to sit out.
In the 1996 World Cup game against eventual champions Sri Lanka, Prabhakar was taken for 33 runs off his first two overs, before he returned to bowl off-spin in his second spell of two overs. As a result, he was dropped for the next match against Zimbabwe. At 32, he immediately announced his retirement from the game.
"I don't regret anything. Sure, it was my last game, and took a while to sink in. But, team mein gandh macha hua tha (was full of dirt), the circumstances were horrible. But, it wasn't Jayasuriya, who ended my career, there were other reasons. My own crowd (here in Delhi) was booing me, but I don't regret anything. It's in the past now," Prabhakar told MiD DAY.
India's batting performance was impressive. Playing in his 106th ODI, Sachin Tendulkar notched up his sixth ton (137) and highest score at the time. However, Tendulkar's special knock was put in the shade by Sanath Jayasuriya's blitzkrieg as Sri Lanka made a mockery of India's target of 272.
There was no stopping the rampant Lankans. The match that witnessed a record 175-run partnership between Tendulkar and Mohammed Azharuddin, sent a strong word of warning to other sides about Sri Lanka's prowess.
"Trust me, nobody could have stopped Jayasuriya. He had reinvented batting, the whole concept of attacking the bowlers in the first 15 overs. It gave us a knockout blow. By the time we realised what he was doing to us, it was too late. The match was already over. Before the game, we had a bit of an idea that he might come hard at us, but there wasn't any planning from our side," he rued.
"It all happened so fast, we hadn't planned anything specific for Jayasuriya."u00a0
