July 25, 2008
It was as if the two teams Sri Lanka and India
were batting and bowling on two different pitches altogether.
The first two days of cricket at the SSC Ground rained plenty
of runs while the Indian bowlers managed to take just four
wickets! On the third day, Sri Lanka did everything according
to plan as they got to 600, so that they bat just the once in
this match. The rest of the time will be devoted to Murali and
Mendis to get the 20 Indian wickets. However, the general
feeling was that the superb Indian batting line-up will anyway
come good to pile up around 500 and the match would just end
up as a draw. The Indians now have their backs to the wall at
a sorry 159 for 6 and trailing behind by an incredibly massive
441 runs!
The opening start for India from Virender
Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir was an attractive one as usual. But
once Sehwag ended the good going with a stupid shot, it was
like a repeat of the Asia Cup Final! This time round, it was
Muttiah Muralitharan doing the damage with four wickets.
Ajantha Mendis picked just the one wicket but the mystery
spinner was responsible to sustain the pressure at one end and
thus making Murali doubly dangerous! This was after Sri Lanka
had declared their first innings at 600 for 6. The hosts
didn't waste much time at all as they got their runs at 3.70
rpo and had got the Indians to bat for a good one hour before
the Tea Break. Tillakaratne Dilshan had helped himself to a
century and therefore becoming the fourth centurion of the Sri
Lankan first innings. There was no joy whatsoever for the
Indian bowlers. Just the two wickets came India's way on the
third day as well. The first breakthrough came when overnight
batsman - Thilan Samaraweera (127 from 224 balls with 18
fours) cut Zaheer Khan straight into the hands of Laxman at
gully. Sri Lanka were at 454 for 5 at this stage. There was
another good partnership to follow that of Dilshan and wicket
keeper Prasanna Jayawardene which gave the foundation for the
600-run mark. Prasanna Jayawardene (30 from 70 balls with a
four) eventually holed out off Harbhajan as he tried to get a
boundary. When Sri Lanka did declare, Dilshan was happily
unbeaten on 125 (from 170 balls with 12 fours and a six) along
with Vaas on 22 (from 32 balls with 4 fours). One of the
notable shots from Dilshan was the sweep he had played off
Zaheer Khan for a boundary!
Like how they were four centurions in the
Sri Lankan camp, there were as many centurions in the Indian
camp as well. Zaheer, Ishant, Harbhajan and Kumble all went
onto record big centuries with the ball! India's first innings
started on a bright note with Sehwag playing some blistering
shots until he went for a suicidal hook shot with two men in
the deep just waiting for that. Kulasekara was the bowler who
executed the brilliant plan as he got a high bouncer outside
the offstump and Sehwag fell in the trap set by the Sri Lankan
captain. It was apt to say that Sehwag fell cheaply for 25
(from 16 balls with 5 fours). After that Gambhir and Dravid
tried to be solid but the real test was when Ajantha Mendis
and Muralitharan were brought into the attack. Another big
blow came when in the 18th over, Gambhir over aggressively
tried to ondrive Murali against the turn only to slice a catch
at short extra covers. The southpaw was looking good until
then having made 39 (from 55 balls with 5 fours). India were
79 for 2 at this stage and three balls later, Rahul Dravid got
castled by a leg cutter kind of delivery from Ajantha Mendis
to make it 79 for 3! Mendis pushed a flat delivery to which
Dravid (14 from 35 with 2 fours) looked to work it across the
onside off the backfoot, but the ball went away from the
batsman to beat his shot and hit the timber!
The pressure was enormous on Tendulkar and
Ganguly as India were already in deep trouble and chasing a
huge 600 total. Tendulkar gave lots of hope with some
attacking shots off Mendis but all of a sudden went into his
shell to be overcautious. That is what had caused his downfall
as the little master was indecisive whether to offer a shot or
to pad up to a Murali delivery which was bowled from round the
sticks and pitching around the middle stump. By the time
Tendulkar (27 from 46 balls with 3 fours) did decide what to
do, the doosra from Murali took the inside edge and rolled
back onto the stumps to make it 123 for 4. Bad light came to
India's rescue after that but the halt in play was only for a
while. After a brief break, play resumed and India went onto
lose two more wickets in the form of Ganguly and Dinesh
Karthik. While Ganguly (23 from 57 with 4 fours) got
brilliantly caught by Kulasekara at fine leg off a top edged
sweep, Karthik (9 from 16 balls with a reverse sweep for a
boundary) played an unforgettable shot to get himself out.
Both the wickets were taken by Murali as he ended the day with
15-3-38-4! Mendis, the debutant was always a threat and he had
figures of 18-3-58-1. Dinesh Karthik's ugly attempt to hoik
Murali over mid wicket summed up the day for the Indians. Once
again it was bad light ending the day with India in shambles
at 159 for 6 in 45 overs. Laxman is on 19 (from 41 balls with
3 fours) along with Skipper Kumble, who is on 1. The visitors
will be praying for something miraculous to escape from the
jail!
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