The early signs(-worma)

As Prem said...'distraction' is what the SL test series looks like, if early signs are anything to go by. Not only were they completely demoralized and outclassed in the ODI series, it looks like they are still struggling to pick themselves up against the BP XI match.

Ofcourse this is cricket, with all its uncertainties, and the SL squad was not complete (with Murali and Atapattu rested) but still, SL would have been looking for an early confident start after the ODI drubbing. And the biggest plus, from an Indian point of view, was that they struggled against the spin of Parida and Mishra (the so-called second line of spin behind Bhajji and Kumble). The only escape route visible to me, at this point, for them is a flat, dead batting beauty of a pitch (which they're likely to get in Kanpur not in Chennai) early up.

And with the Indian team finishing the SA team on a high note, with most of the players back amongst runs (incidently, Sehwag is our second highest scorer of the series, despite all that talk of struggle) the job of SLankans gets all the more difficult. Here's a nice profile/interview of Dravid the captain by Rohit Brijnath on BBC. The end note is on perfect pitch

We don't know Dravid the captain yet and neither does he, it will be months before we can decide if his philosophies have been embraced, determine his progress. But one thing we do know. Good teams are painstaking constructions, they require patience, commitment, dedication, self-belief, time to flower and this captain, at least he's familiar with the journey, he's lived it, as a batsman at least he knows it can work.