Sri Lanka's nightmare to forget

Is it too late for Sri Lanka to abandon this tour? Can it all just end? Four matches in, the visitors are tumbling around in a washing machine of despair. The colours have bled into the whites. Water is leaking into the circuits. Everything that could have gone wrong, has gone wronger.

Maybe the most frightening thing about this cricket purgatory is how stale the nightmare has already become. At each press conference, Angelo Mathews speaks of improving the catching, or the batting, or the bowling, only for his team to transplant their mistakes from the last match to the next. With the exception of Ambati Rayudu, each India centurion has been dropped early in his innings. Since Rohit Sharma hit 264, it was fit that the opposition missed two-and-a-half chances off him. Rarely has Sri Lanka achieved mediocrity with such precision.

While India have surged expertly in the batting Powerplay, often taking it early to spark the pyrotechnics that continue until innings' end, Sri Lanka have approached it like their trousers are on fire. India average 50 for no loss in their batting Powerplays this series. Sri Lanka have, on average, lost three wickets for 24. A strategic device that was intended to favour batsmen, has become a gauntlet.

Before the team left Sri Lanka, Mathews said he hoped the second opener's position would be claimed by the end of the series, but that spot now seems as open as ever. Tillakaratne Dilshan has been visibly out of touch, yet his output has been more than four times the 32 runs Upul Tharanga and Kusal Perera have mustered together. The selectors have not allowed Mahela Jayawardene to open the innings, believing his promotion would put too much pressure on the middle order. But then little else restricts a middle order like the routine fall of early wickets.

The bowling has suffered the worst batterings on tour, but at least there Sri Lanka's worries don't seem so dire, given their full-strength attack has underpinned their limited-overs success this year. Almost every international side would struggle in India without their most experienced spinner and quick. Encouragingly, Lasith Malinga's recovery is on track so far, and management is hopeful he can still play one or two ODIs before the World Cup begins, while Rangana Herath may help exert control over the opposition innings when he returns from a well-earned break.

Nuwan Kulasekara's continued waywardness is a concern, given he had been one of the most consistent cogs in the attack for years. But maybe a series on the flattest pitches going around, against a top batting order, is not the easiest scenario in which to regain form. More will be expected of him, and of Thisara Perera, in the home ODIs coming up against England.

Since Sri Lanka's thrashing on Thursday, the board has taken increasing heat from fans and some media, for agreeing so hastily to the series. But to accuse SLC of selling the team down the river for easy cash is not quite accurate on two counts. First, until India agree to tour Sri Lanka next year, SLC haven't necessarily reaped substantial payment for scheduling this series. At least Judas got his 30 pieces of silver up front. But in SLC's defence, they are in no position to rebuff requests from the BCCI either. That is the realpolitik of the Big Three era.

Sri Lanka had also scaled down their expectations for this series, given the lack of preparation time, but the team has still disappointed, even by those lowered standards. Spilling straightforward catches and playing poor shots are not among the charges that can be fairly laid at Nishantha Ranatunga's feet.

Pulling off a West Indies-style pullout may have crossed more than one mind in the Sri Lanka camp, but for whatever reason, the series continues. Sri Lanka have now arrived in Ranchi, where a modicum of respectability might be salvaged. Encouragingly, the players are copping criticism head on, rather than seeking to deflect it.

"As a professional cricketer you have to adapt to the conditions and you have to play well on what you're given," vice captain Lahiru Thirimanne said on the eve of the last game. "Team wise, we hadn't had much match practice before this series. But that's not an excuse. The team spirit has not been the problem. We've been having fun at our practices, but the games have been really tough."

Given the chasm between Indian conditions and those expected in Australia and New Zealand, Sri Lanka need not be in a panic about the World Cup yet. The England series at home shapes as a better gauge. For now, at least the nightmare tour is near its end. If Sri Lanka can compete in Ranchi, they might have a shot at easing themselves back into form. If not, players may have to rebuild confidence from rubble for the next series, which begins 10 days after this one.