India versus Sri Lanka: The Ashes of ODI Cricket?

“What the…” That was the only reaction I had.

No, there had not been an advertisement sandwiched between the start of the bowler’s run-up and his follow-through. And neither could one hear Laxman Sivaramakrishnan bleat out, “Karbonn Kamaal Katch” in hope that the regulation dolly for the wicket-keeper would have been missed by each of the 106,76,34,876 audiences around the world. Nor were the boundary ropes brought in to the 30 yard circle and the bowlers bowling underarm hoping that the umpire may miss calling a no-ball.

It was the announcement that the BCCI had made with regards to India’s tour of Zimbabwe (does Duncan Fletcher still play for them?), where the side was to feature in a tri-series. That is, of course, if you include Zimbabwe as a team.

But the other team was to be Sri Lanka. Again.

Let plain statistics take over. Ever since the final edition of the Commonwealth Bank series played in Australia in 2007-08, India has featured in 14 tournaments of the fifty overs variety. In seven of them, India has played Sri Lanka. 7 out of 14! If I get my math right, that is like every second series has Sri Lanka sneaking up to play against the Indians.

Almost like a jealous paramour. Of course, from a Sri Lankan perspective, the converse is also true.

Post IPL and the ICC World T20, this tri-series will be the first ODI tournament, and that will make it 8 in 15. But the juggernaut does not stop.

It gets better. Worse.

There is a small matter of Asia Cup in June, and unless one or both of the countries of India and Sri Lanka apply for a ‘Tatkaal’ membership of Europe or any other such continent, they are destined to play against each other again in that tournament.

Then, another tri-series with New Zealand. You know the other two. Unless, New Zealand Cricket chief Justin Vaughan bans its players from playing against any BCCI-affiliated teams for touring Zimbabwe after they had pulled out on a few minutes ago.

Now, it is also said that the Lankan authorities have cajoled their Indian counterparts to feature in a three Test match series following the tri-series. What about the T20Is? A seven game T20I series? And another three tri-series with Tanzania, Azerbaijan and Fiji as the third teams respectively?

The next step in building this strong bond with at least one of our neighbours would be to have an ‘Exchange Program’. Four – or some such random number – of Indians can play in the Lankan team and vice-versa. New Zealand or Zimbabwe or Fiji could still be the third side, but the finals will always be contested by the two Asian sides.

And a 100 years from now, when the ODIs would have been dead, the two sides would still be contesting for the Ashes of the ODIs. Not the ashes of the bails or the stumps or the bat, but of the ODIs.

Cause of Death: Brought about by excessive, context-less, thesaurus-less, excruciatingly boring fifty overs cricket.

by Suneer Chowdhary
(The writer is a cricket rambler and can be contacted at suneerchowdhary@gmail.com. He will continue doing so for us whenever he gets that 25th hour of the day.)

Related posts:

1. India to tour Zimbabwe, play tri-series with Sri Lanka
2. New Zealand will not tour Zimbabwe
3. Zimbabwe beat West Indies in a thriller
4. Adam Gilchrist bats for separate IPL window
5. Raqibul Hasan quits international cricket in anger

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Posted by Sam on Mar 18 2010. Filed under Columns. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry