Slash, charge, sweep

A lot of people are shaking their heads at Brian Lara's ability to not just handle Muttiah Muralitharan but also dismantle his mystique. Why? There's no rocket science involved, just Lara's belief in his ability and his will to not be dictated to.

It is true that Murali is not the same bowler to lefties: he is slow to try things against them. Graham Thorpe played him pretty well last year, albeit without the dominance Lara has managed to achieve. Against Lara, Murali did not chan ge his angles, nor did he try to out-think him. He was content in the end to not concede boundaries while yielding the singles. Lara's battle was won; the method used was simple but mighty effective.

Lara moves onto about off stump as Murali bowls, which essentially takes away the lbw against left-handers. Murali is such a big spinner of the ball that he has to pitch outside leg stump which is not out under the laws of the game. This dilemma seems to have stumped Murali for the time being.

Lara has studied Murali's action carefully and can now easily pick the one that turns as a legbreak; he watches it carefully out of the hand, so he knows the spin of the ball before it pitches - always a confidence boost to any batsman. So intent was Lara on upstaging Murali that he intentionally hit fours against the spin. Not only did this keep the scoreboard ticking, it also put doubt in Murali's mind, undermining his confidence, his most important asset.

In this series, Lara had three basic modes of dealing with Murali and only when he was over 50 or needed to keep the strike did he deviate from the plan:

1 He slashed the wide ball pitching in the rough, but played it so late - sometimes after it was past his body - that it flashed square or even backward of square; any edges were too wide and too quick for slip.
2 He charged, particularly the slower ball and `drop-kicked' it over Murali's head.
3 He swept. The sweep is particularly effective because he always uses it with the good-length ball - Murali's stock ball and the one he feels most comfortable bowling. However, Lara employed two sweep shots depending on Murali's speed - the late or fine sweep and the more powerful orthodox sweep which goes just backward of square. Bearing in mind that the laws permit only two fielders backward of square, it was a productive area for Lara and a headache for Sanath Jayasuriya while setting the field.

For now Lara has the upper hand and can continue on his merry way, but for Murali it is back to the drawing board. He will have to be more adventurous in his approach. Personally I'd like to see him go around the wicket but vary his delivery angles to upset Lara's rhythm. Also he needs to go over the wicket now and again, change angles, bowl very full - almost full toss - and invite the Lara sweep. The ball may just pitch in the rough and bite sufficiently to bowl Lara around his legs. I stress that this can only be an occasional ploy, but Murali has to take that risk. To continue in his present course means Lara will continue to dominate - something Murali has not had to contend with in the past.