Kumble (10/157) lures Sri Lanka to defeat
 

Sa'adi Thawfeeq reporting from India, NEW DELHI,

 Wednesday, Sri Lanka managed to stall the inevitable till 41 minutes into the fifth and final afternoon before losing the second cricket Test to India by 188 runs at the Ferozshah Kotla grounds here today to trail the three-Test series 0-1 with one match to play. The first Test at Chennai ended in a draw.

Sri Lanka were eventually dismissed for 247 in their second innings, 17 runs more than they scored in the first. That the game went beyond the first session of play after Sri Lanka had began the day at 123-5 was due to a fighting innings of 67 in 206 minutes by Mahela Jayawardene.

It was his third successive half-century of the series following previous knocks of 71 and 60. Along with skipper Marvan Atapattu, who made 88 and 67, Jayawardene looked the only batsman capable of putting up any kind of resistance against India.

All that was required for Sri Lanka to survive on this pitch, which was still good for batting, was for the batsmen to play straight. Atapattu and Jayawardene did just that, but their contributions alone were not enough when your team is faced with a massive winning target of 436 runs and nearly five sessions to survive.

The two occasions where Sri Lanka missed out was in the final sessions of the second and the fourth days when they lost cheap wickets and handed the initiative back to India.

For Sri Lanka to make an impact in this Test a first innings lead was vital. They finished 60 runs behind instead. Then on the fourth evening they needed to keep wickets intact if they were to have any chance of holding out for a draw. But they lost four wickets for 14 runs in the final hour and with it went their chance of saving the Test. These were the defining moments that cost Sri Lanka the Test.

The only form of resistance on the final day came in the shape of a seventh wicket partnership of 68 in 83 minutes between Jayawardene and Tillakaratne Dilshan (32). Chaminda Vaas (17) also hung around to add 44 for the eighth wicket with Jayawardene. But these were just pocket resistances which India could afford because the odds were so heavily in their favour.

Once again it was the right-arm leg spinner Anil Kumble who engineered India's victory charge finishing with a further four wickets to his six in the first which gave him his eighth match bag of ten wickets in a career spanning 99 Tests. A qualified mechanical engineer the Ferozshah Kotla Stadium is one of Kumble's favourite hunting grounds.

It is where he took all ten wickets in a Test innings against Pakistan in 1999. Today's haul of 10 for 157 brought his tally of wickets at this venue to 48 from five Tests.

Playing the supporting role to Kumble was off-spinner Harbhajan Singh who picked up three wickets including that of Jayawardene for 70 runs.

There is so much talk of improving Sri Lanka's overseas record and this Test provided them with an opportunity of at least drawing this match and going into the third and final game at Ahmedabad starting on Sunday in a confident frame of mind.

At the start of the series coach Tom Moody said if Sri Lanka was going to make any impression in the Test series batting was going to be absolutely crucial. "We need to be batting well and we need to be batting well on top. Our top order has to take on the responsibility and fire," he said. Well, they didn't because of rank bad batting.

INDIA 1ST INNINGS 290
SRI LANKA 1ST INNINGS 230
INDIA 2ND INNINGS 375-6 decl.
SRI LANKA 2ND INNINGS
(overnight 123-5)

D.A. Gunawardene lbw b Pathan		 9
M.S. Atapattu c and b Kumble		67
K.C. Sangakkara c Dhoni b Agarkar	33
D.P.M. Jayawardene c Gambhir b Harbhajan67 
C.M. Bandara lbw b Kumble		 0
T.T. Samaraweera c Dravid b Harbhajan	 0
J. Mubarak lbw b Agarkar		 3
T.M. Dilshan b Kumble			32
W.P.U.J.C. Vaas c Harbhajan b Kumble	17
M. Muralitharan c Dhoni b Harbhajan	 2
C.R.D. Fernando not out			 2 
Extras (b-2, lb-7, nb-6)		15
TOTAL (all out, 91.2 overs, 365 mins)	247
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-30 (Gunawardene), 2-109
(Sangakkara), 3-119 (Atapattu), 4-119 (Bandara), 5-123
(Samaraweera), 6-131 (Mubarak), 7-199 (Dilshan), 8-243
(Jayawardene), 9-243 (Vaas), 10-247 (Muralitharan).
BOWLING: Pathan 14-2-38-1, Agarkar 15-4-45-2 (1nb),
Kumble 36-7-85-4 (5nb), Harbhajan 25.2-5-70-3.
Man of the Match: A. Kumble