South Asian revival on the Cricket Field

Was I imagining things or did all South Asian cricket teams gel at the same time today? In exactly the same manner?

First the Sri Lankans demolished the West Indians for 130 all out, with some ferocious pace bowling from Lasith Malinga and the practised guile of Murali, then proceeded to pile on a hefty lead of 350+ (a huge score considering the low scoring nature of the match). Later in the day, India proceeded to slog their way to 250, then with a calculated and sublime seam bowling effort reduced South Africa to nothing for six. Further down the day, back home in the sub-continent, the Pakistani pace attack struck late to keep the West Indies down to 230-ish, despite a century from Shivnarine Chanderpaul (the immigration officer who let his family leave India should be found and shot).

I think the South Asian teams have finally learned the value of technique, application and patience on bouncy tracks. Sub-conti teams have also learnt to dish out the same out/in-swingers, yorkers and bouncers that have been making them miserable just a few wees ago. Malinga, Murali, Sreesanth, Zaheer, Gul and Naved have shown that Sub-conti bowling attacks are far from tooth-less and can actually be match winners, especially when the much vaunted brown batting line-ups arent exactly in the best of form. That being said, select batting stars have also gotten the measure of the bouncy wickets on offer in New Zealand and the West Indies. Most notable among these these are Kumar Sangakara and Sachin Tendulkar who are in blistering form, though both slightly unlikely in their most recent innings.

In summary, South Asian teams seem to be on the upswing and we can only hope that they maintain this momentum and peak during the World Cup. A repeat of the dismal Champions Trophy performances would really be an insult to Cricket's largest fan-base.