MUMBAI, Aug 15: You can stop a hurricane,
Might even stop the driving rain...

Bryan Adams was, of course, singing about his unstoppable love. But after the repeated thrashing the Indians have been getting at the hands of Sanath Teran Jayasuriya, this may well be the theme song of Indian bowling when the Sri Lankan opener is at the crease.

Just when the wounds of the 151 at the Wankhede Stadium during the Independence Cup were healing, came the crippling blow of 340 at the Premadasa Stadium in the first Test. Less than a week later, the annihilation was complete when he bludgeoned his way to 199 at the Singhalese Sports Club.

The question is: Can Jayasuriya be stopped? Skipper Sachin Tendulkar and his men have looked clueless. The Indian Express went out to former players to seek their collective wisdom of the cricketing fraternity on the issue.

Former Test player and currently on the panel of International Cricket Council (ICC) match referees, Hanumant Singh, feels that Jayasuriya can be stopped by two methods one, if the Indian bowlers bowl to their own strengths, and secondly, if they exploit Jayasuriya's strength.

``His low-grip makes it comfortable for him to play back-foot stroke. But it also restricts him from rolling his wrists and he tends to play uppish leg-side shots, particularly the hook, sweep and pull. This can be successfully exploited by a medium-pace bowler and off-spinner by using the angle astutely. The low-grip also restricts his driving opportunities,'' says Hanumant.

The other way would be to play to Jayasuriya's strengths. ``He is an impulsive cutter of the ball. If the spinner goes round the wicket and angles the ball to his body, giving him less room to cut, he might edge it.''

Being a left-hand batsman whose natural instinct is to attack, spin is perhaps the best option to cut his innings short. The legendary Bishen Singh Bedi, while launching a strong attack on the national selectors for giving Tendulkar such a toothless bowling attack, said: ``The bowler must think and plan, which, sadly, our bowlers lack. You want to know how I'll tackle him.

Well, I'll outwit him. I'll definitely toss the ball and not allow him to cut or pull his two strong points. I'll set an attacking field and force him to make a mistake. I wouldn't mind if I am hit straight for a six. But I'll get him.''

His partner in that famous Indian spin quartet, Erapalli Prasanna, shares the same view. ``He should be encouraged to drive against the spin. A middle and leg stump line with the ball pitched up would be a good idea. If the batsman went after my bowling, all the better. If he can consistently hit across the line and still clear the field, then all the best to him.''

Bhagwat Chandrasekhar, who along with Venkataraghavan made up the quartet, emphasised on the right line and length. ``It made no difference to me whether a batsman was defensive or offensive. Whether I bowled to Ken Barrington or Viv Richards, my objective was the same. Get into my rhythm, length and line. Once I struck these, I was confident I could get anybody out,'' said Chandra.

Maninder Singh, former Test spinner and now a first-class umpire, thought that the best way to get his wicket early is to peg him on his leg-side. ``Spinners must flight the ball on his leg-side, keeping a deep mid-wicket and a deep mid-on. But the problem with our spinners is that they do not flight the ball.'' he said.

Two pacemen of the present generation Atul Wassan and Salil Ankola lived upto the mind-set of a fast bowler. Both felt that bringing the ball into the ribs of Jayasuriya, and thus giving him no room to play his shots, would be the best strategy.

``I think the ball Debashis Mohanty bowled in the first innings of the second Test was perfect an away-moving ball outside the off-stump at a driveable length. He doesn't move his feet very well and might edge it,'' said Ankola, revealing his second strategy.

Brijesh Patel, who was there in person to witness Jayasuriya's 340, said: ``The important thing against those like Jayasuriya is to go into each match with a plan. For example, the Lankans were very shrewd in using Kookaburra balls against us which stops swinging after a few overs instead of the Dukes or SG, which swing more. The Lankans, thus, neutralised our main men. This is the sort of thought and planning that are required to squeeze out even the slightest advantage.''

Then, there were some who felt that such is our bowling attack, that no strategy can work. Said Tiger Pataudi: ``You can just forget about it. Because this current Indian bowling attack has neither the sharpness nor the accuracy to get even ordinary batsmen, what to talk of such prolific run-getters as Sanath Jayasuriya and Aravinda de Silva.''

Dilip Sardesai blamed the wickets as well. ``There was no way our bowlers could have stopped him on such dead tracks. And this was the worst bowling attack I have ever seen in my life.''

(With inputs from S Santhanam/Delhi and Vedam Jaishankar/Bangalore)

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.