Related Links : 3rd Test Scorecard | India’s Tour of Sri Lanka 2008
Sri Lanka have deservingly won the 3-Test Series Idea Cup 2-0 by defeat India by 8 wickets in the 3rd and final Test at the P Sara Stadium in Colombo. Set a target of 122, the hosts received early tremors but recovered soon under the calming influence of their Skipper Mahela Jayawardene, who fittingly went onto hit the winning runs in the company of Malinda Warnapura.
India wasn’t short of inspiration going into the fourth day at a dismal 161 for 5 when the news of the Indian Shooter Abhinav Bindra winning a Gold Medal in the ongoing Beijing Olympics came into the limelight. The prolific pair of Rahul Dravid and an injured VVS Laxman set themselves up for the long partnership while doing their basics right. A Kolkata revival was on the cards but then it was no Aussie attack. This Sri Lankan attack had the ‘unplayable’ Mystery Spinner – Ajantha Mendis and a wicket could come each and every delivery bowled by him. Dravid and Laxman saw the first hour through until Mendis worked out a new angle which sealed the fate of the match. Ajantha went from round the sticks and fired an away going delivery that forced Dravid to nick him to Mahela in the slips, who took a fabulous low catch. It still was a sincere effort from Rahul Dravid (68 from 166 balls with 6 fours), he tried his best as long as he was in the middle. The partnership with Laxman was 85 which was below par their potential.
It was only matter of time before the Indian second innings folded. VVS Laxman worked his way to a half century but really couldn’t show any guts in going berserk to add as many runs as possible before the tail enders got wiped off. Laxman ended up with 61 (from 157 balls with 3 fours) and India got bowled out for 268 in 87.5 overs. Harbhajan Singh had swept his way to a 32-ball 26 that had 5 fours which helped India a three figure lead. There was one totally interesting moment towards the end of the innings when they were four Indian batsmen in the ground with Gambhir running in for Laxman and Parthiv for Ishant. Ajantha Mendis finished with match figures of 8 for 177 and in overall, 26 wickets in his Debut Series which got him the Man of the Series.
Harbhajan and Zaheer provided a wonderful opening by removing Michael Vandort (cleaned up by a Harbhajan armer) and first innings centurion Sangakkara (caught at mid off after playing little too early). Sri Lanka were 22 for 2 and that was quite a vulnerable position. The Indian bowlers failed to make any further inroads as Mahela Jayawardene was too good with his solid technique while the young Malinda Warnapura got satisfaction in staying till the end. The end came in the 34th over with both Warnapura (54 from 99 balls with 5 fours) and Mahela (50 from 85 balls with 3 fours) helping themselves to unbeaten half centuries. The Man of the Match went to Kumar Sangakkara for his crucial 144 in Sri Lanka’s first innings.