Muralitharan puts India in a spin

By John Cheeran
Morning belonged to Doosra.
Muttaih Muralitharan proved today at Feroze Shah Kotla why he is regarded as the most fearsome spinner in world cricket. Muralitharan ripped apart any grand designs Indian skipper Rahul Dravid had of a big score quickly and decisively on Sunday.
Sourav Ganguly, who hung on for his dear life on Saturday, met his nemesis in Murali very early in the day. Murali trapped him lbw.
It was a relief to see Ganguly crawl back to pavilion to those whose hearts beat for Team India. Ganguly’s comeback, I must say, is a gift from Sri Lankan wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara yesterday. Mother Therasa’s Calcutta must be adopting Sangakkara as their foster son for that stumping bungling.
Murali sent back Sachin Tendulkar too, trapped lbw.
So Tendulkar achieved his No. 35; Ganguly failed to justify his presence in the Test side with a meaningful contribution apart from extending his trial to another innings.
If anyone wonders about the motivation level of some of our players can we blame them?
Pace or spin, whenever Indian batsmen encounter quality attack, they are in trouble.
It was a situation tailor made for Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni to counter attack against the old ball; the fact they failed to do so gives so much for skipper Dravid to chew on during the rest of this Test.