Vaas back in the swing of things

Kumar Sangakkara must have seen it a thousand times yet when it came towards him on Friday it was of little help. Chaminda Vaas' fingers cut across the ball at release, the ball swerved across, gripped the pitch and broke back in. Sangakkara pushed out like a novice, the bat was stabbed outside the line and the ball cut back in to take a fatal inside edge. Vaas' slow offcutter had done it again.

He last played an ODI in August 2008 and a Twenty20 game almost a year before that. And that lack of form showed in the last two editions of the IPL, when he was carted around the park. It was almost painful to watch him bowl. The pace had dropped considerably, the slower ones seemed more stock ball than variation, the swing was dying and he was repeatedly hit through the line and out of the attack. To the observer he rarely gave the impression he could get through his full spell of ten overs in any game. And when he was eventually axed from the national team - ironically, under Sangakkara's captaincy - there weren't many protests. Everyone, it seemed, had moved on and got used to Sri Lankan cricket without Vaas.

Except Vaas himself, for whom the desire to play international cricket still burns bright. "I have retired from Test cricket [but] I am still available for Sri Lanka in ODIs and T20s. The World Cup is a big motivation," he said last week. But he made actions speak louder than words during this IPL, actions that prompted the return of that shy smile, that familiar celebration with forefinger raised to the skies as he gently jogs towards the keeper.

He didn't take long to make his move: Off the first ball of the inaugural game, he got Manoj Tiwary flicking tamely to midwicket. It didn't presage what was to come; it looked as if the batsman had contrived to get out to a harmless delivery. Two balls later, though, he made you sit up and watch. The ball curved away ever so late from Sourav Ganguly, who was lured into edging his square drive to slips. He did it again in the next game against Chennai Super Kings, picking up three wickets - Matthew Hayden, Suresh Raina and M Vijay - with the new ball.

The dismissals were indicative of the batsmen's mindset - they seemed to be caught in Vaas' repertoire, expecting length deliveries at gentle pace lacking venom and with minimum swing. And Vaas was canny enough to exploit the situation. Vijay charged out to heave but was done in by the inward movement, Raina went chasing a delivery well outside off stump and Hayden perished, unable to adjust his intended paddle-scoop to the lack of pace.

Barring Sangakkara and Ganguly, nearly all his other victims have fallen to overconfidence, the bowler preying on their ego, lulling them into a false sense of security, allowing them to think he was there to be taken apart. Vaas is used to being treated that way. In his fag end of his successful career, when pace deserted him, he had thrived on the subtle changes in pace and movement. For quite some time now, the wicketkeeper would be standing up to the stumps for Vaas, as happened on Friday when Sangakkara was batting.

With some bowlers, it could appear a sign of a weakness; with Vaas, you felt it was just an acceptance of reality. He even made it appear an accomplice in his plan to cramp and suffocate the batsmen. The length deliveries would either shape in or curve away on a probing line and dot balls would pile up to create pressure. The batsman would try to break free and would be either done in by a slower one or caught at short cover or short midwicket. However, as he lost even more pace and hence the bite from his swing, the batsmen started to whack him through the line.

Things have changed this IPL, though it appears that Vaas is yet to re-learn how to bowl in the end overs. In the first game, when he came back at the death, he was even swept away and was taken off the attack. You will see Gilchrist try to make full use of Vaas with the new ball. What should be interesting is to see how he bowls once the batsmen start playing him with a little bit more respect for the new ball. He has already punished their eagerness to go after him; if they hold back and choose the deliveries to hit, can Vaas still strike as he has done in the last three games? Or will he slip away yet again to anonymity?