August 08, 2008
Debutant Dammika Prasad and Ajantha Mendis put
Sri Lanka in a great position to call the shots in the
decisive third test at the P Saravanamuttu Stadium in Colombo.
The strong Indian batting line-up once again proved that they
still haven't got the Mendis Mystery solved. India wasted the
opportunity of batting first in good conditions and also
another positive start from the openers to put up just the
249. Sri Lanka in reply to that have been jolted by the wicket
of the inform Malinda Warnapura. But the homeside just needs
to get its act once with the bat and they know that they can
have total control over the match.
When Mahela Jayawardene lost the toss, he was
hugely disappointed that his team couldn't take first strike.
And when a Sehwag's pull shot was dropped at short square leg,
there was a feeling that the hosts were going to be pay a huge
price. The general feeling was that the pitch was too slow and
easy for the batsmen to keep coming on their frontfoot to
drive on the up with ease. But the script of the day had
something in store altogether. India raced away to a good
start with Sehwag and Gambhir continuing to take the bowlers
to the cleaners. Debutant Dammika Prasad, who replaced Nuwan
Kulasekara showed good speeds around 140 kmph, but at the same
time was too erratic. In the 8th over, he got his act right
with a perfect delivery that landed on the seam, came back
into Sehwag and left him late to take a feather edge. Sehwag's
innings was cut short to 21 (from 21 balls with 4 fours) and
India lost its first wicket at 51. Dammika was pumped up and
his Captain kept his faith in the youngster to give a long
spell.
Just when India was consolidating through
Gambhir and Dravid, came an inswinger from Dammika that
wrapped up the latter on his pads. Dravid (10 from 29) fell
across his off stump in an exaggerated shuffle, a loud lbw
shout was turned down and to the naked eye, it appeared that
the batsman was struck outside his offstump. However, TV
Replays provided enough evidence for the Umpires to change the
decision, to a correct one after SL's request for a review. It
was no way going to be 'not out' as the impact was just
infront of the offstump. India now in trouble at 92 for 2 and
slipped further down the barrel as Tendulkar had another
failure, and he too got lbw to a Dammika Prasad inswinger.
Tendulkar asked for a review as there was a noise that created
a doubt in his mind that he had hit the ball. But technology
made it clear that Sachin was wrong and it meant that India
went to lunch at a shaky 104 for 3.
After lunch, the visitors fought back
through the left handed pair of Gambhir and Ganguly and the
runs came at a decent rate. Muralitharan finally got to bowl
his first over in the 30th of the innings! The spin king got
smashed over his head and onto the sightscreen by Ganguly in
his second over. But soon, it was Murali having the last laugh
as he forced Ganguly (35 from 57 balls with 4 fours and a six)
to edge his quicker off break to first slip where Mahela took
a lovely catch. Just a few balls later, India lost their fifth
wicket with Gambhir getting the rough end of the Review
System. Gambhir played along the wrong line ever so slightly
to a Mendis straighter one, the Umpire had his own doubts as
the bat and pad were too close to each other and it was a
decent stride forward. Mahela made the 'T' Signal and once
again there was enough evidence to declare Gambhir out lbw.
Once again an lbw decision changed which went against the
Indians for the second time, but the right decision did come
out.
Poor Gambhir missed out on a deserving
hundred yet again. He had to be content with 72 this time
which came in 128 balls with 10 fours. India now slipped to a
hopeless 155 for 5. By tea, Mendis got VVS Laxman for the
fifth time in five innings to make it 190 for 6. Laxman, who
was on 25 (from 44 balls with a four) tried to work Mendis
towards the onside, but then failed to read a leg cutter that
broke past his bat to give a sharp stumping chance. Sri Lanka
after that took wickets in a hurry including that of comeback
man Parthiv Patel, who looked better than Karthik in his brief
innings of 13 that lasted 42 balls. It was as good as over at
198 for 9 in the 60th over. But the last pair of Ishant and
Zaheer had other plans. Both put their heads down to play like
proper batsmen. Playing according to the merit of the bowling,
both tail enders even managed to put on the best partnership
of the innings that lasted just over 20 overs. After the two
had crossed the milestone of the 50-run partnership, a more
than satisfied Zaheer went for an ugly hoik over mid wicket
only to miss a Mendis googly and to be stumped out. Zaheer
made 32 from 73 balls with three fours and a six while Ishant
remained undefeated on 17 from 61 balls.
India got 249 while lasting just 80 overs.
Ajantha Mendis finished with a stunning 28-4-56-5 and debutant
Dammika Prasad had to be content with 3 for 82. There was a
consolation for India towards the end of the day when Malinda
Warnapura shuffled too much across to leave his leg stump
exposed. An accurate Ishant Sharma knocked that off with some
good pace. Sri Lanka ended the day at 14 for 1 in 8 overs with
Michael Vandort (3 from 20 balls) with Chaminda Vaas, the
night watchman surviving six balls safely.
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