Sehwag could take a cue from Jaya

Venugopal Rao, in his first ODI, has taken a huge step forward. He virtually saw through Murali?s first spell, writes Arjuna Ranatunga.

India will always wonder if Anil Kumble could have made the difference. India did not have Sachin Tendulkar or Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman pulled out in the morning. It was a side which was low on experience and was crying for some cool heads.

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Besides, it is too obvious that three left-arm seamers is not the best way to have variety in your attack. A batsman is best confronted when he has different angles, line and lengths and field positions to contend with. Kumble, in all the years I have known, is master in creating pressure. He would have made good use of batsmen's defensive mindset and who knows, with a few fielders breathing down their neck, it could have told on the Sri Lankan team.

At no stage I am running down the inclusion of two debutants in Suresh Raina and Venugopal Rao. I would love to see Raina more in this tournament as I liked the way he walked into the middle for his first international game. There are some things about a cricketer which reveal his entire character.

Unfortunately, Raina faced the first ball of his career like nothing he would have ever faced in his life. Murali's wrong ’un completely did him in.

Murali presently is at the top of his form. His googlies are turning four or five feet which do not allow batsmen to pre-judge him. In this form, it will be difficult to hit him for boundaries. I could remember only two from this game and one of them went dangerously close to first slip.

Rao, in his first international, has taken a huge step forward. He can hope for a career at this level. His performance acquires extra dimension on two counts: one, the side was close to being wiped out at the half-way stage and two, Murali had tasted blood. He virtually saw through Murali's first spell which is no mean feat.