Murali and Mendis have India in a flat spin at 159 for 6

Dilshan 125 n.o. in Lanka’s 600 for 6 dec. :

Elmo RODRIGOPULLE

Wily bowling by spin genius Muttiah Muralitheran ably supported by the mystery man Ajantha Mendis had the Indians wriggling and struggling and at the deep end at 159 for 6 when bad light stopped play sniffing at the follow on the third day of the First Test against Sri Lanka at the SSC ground at the end of day three.

While Mendis teased the batsmen, Muralitheran got his usual magic working and it was sad to watch the strong Indian batting capitulating.

With two more days to go and if the weather keeps fine, what the Lankans need to do is keep their cool, do the things right, support their bowlers by taking every half chance that come their way then there is no reason why the Lankans should not go one-up in the series.

Muraitheran had 4 for 38, Mendis one for 58 and Kulasekera one for 39.

When the Indians began their innings of survival Virender Sehwag was his usual belligerent self slamming 5 fours in his quick 25 before pulling Nuwna Kulasekera to fine leg where Waranapura gobbled a well judged catch 36 for one.

Then Gautam Gambhir who was threatening went caught at mid off by Samaraweera off Muralitheran for 39 with 5 fours 79 for two.

Then at the same score Dravid was bowled Ajantha Mendis for 14 and then Sachin Tendulkar who was threatening to get on top of the spinners dragged one from Muralitheran to be bowled for 27 and India were struggling at 123 for 4.

Then with the runs drying up, Sourav Ganguly had a sudden rush of blood and pulled Muralitheran for Nuwan Kulesekera to take a brilliant running catch low down. Ganguly made 23. India 138 for 5 and in deep trouble.

When Jayawardena declared at 600 for six, he put the pressure on the Indian batsmen, and they had to first get 401 to avert the ignominy of a follow on and it gave Jayawardena several attacking options.

Jayawardena a thinking captain gave his bowlers attacking fields, especially debutant spinner Ajantha Mendis and the famed Muttiah Muralitheran with a silly mid off, silly mid on and a slip and a gully. Brilliant captaincy.

The wicket held no terrors, being batsmen friendly and the spinners, especially Mendis and Muralitheran had to bowl intelligently using the footmarks to trouble the batsmen and lure them to their demise.

The third day’s play began in glorious sunshine, unlike the first two day’s which were overcast.

When play began what the Sri Lankan batsmen had to do was to pile on the runs and the agony on the Indian bowlers and fielders, and frustrate then and try and take away their focus.

And this Thilan Samaraweera, Tillekeratne Dilshan, Prasanna Jayawrdena and Chmainda Vaas did to a nicety. Samaraweera who played a dream hundred against the West Indies in the Second Test in Trinidad, took off from that point and it was pleasing to see him hungry for runs and taking the attack to the bowlers.

The Lankan middle order batting looked brittle. But Samaraweera, Dilshan, Jayawardena and Vaas rose to the occasion and if the form they showed is an indication, then skipper Jayawardena need not have any worries.

Sri Lanka’s massive score of 600 was built on four solid partnerships.155 for the third wicket by Warnapura and Jayawardena, 158 for the fourth wicket between Jayawardena and Samaraweera, 94 for the fifth wicket from Samaraweera and Dilshan and 91 between Dilshan an Jayawardena for the sixth wicket and an unbroken stand between Dilshan and Vaas for the seventh wicket of 55.

Dilshan who was surprisingly under undue pressure to keep his place in the team,slapped his detractors with a superlative century which should take the pressure off him and help him keep his place and allow him to play more freely in the remaining Tests.

Samaraweera who completed century on the previous day, did not last long being dismissed when he cut a rising delivery from Zaheer Khan to be caught in the gully for 127.He drove well in front of the wicket and played the cut beautifully. He had 18 fours in his knock.

Dilshan was always on fast forward mode and played some exciting drives on the off and was strong with pulls and hooks.

The sweep for six off Kumble was the shot of his innings.his fifth three figures came off 146 balls,226 minutes with 10 fours and one six.

Prasanna Jayawardena made 30 and Chaminda Vaas remained unbeaten on 22 when a jubilant Mahela Jayawardena called his men in at 600 for six.

While there were four centuries from the Sri Lankan batsmen, there were also centuries of sorts from four of the Indian bowlers with Zaheer Khan going for 156 for 2, Ishan Sharm 2 for 124, Harbhajan Singh 2 for 149 and Anil Kumble wicketless for 121.

SRI LANKA 1st Innings
(Overnight 422-4)

Michael Vandort c Karthik b Sharma 		  3
Malinda Warnapura c Dravid b Singh 		115
Kumar Sangakkara c Dravid b Khan 		 12
Mahela Jayawardene c Karthik b Sharma 		136
Thilan Samaraweera c Laxman b Khan 		127
Tillekeratne Dilshan not out 			125
Prasanna Jayawardene c Sharma b Singh 		 30
Chaminda Vaas not out 			 	 22

Extras: (4b, 5lb, 18nb, 3w) 			30

TOTAL: (for six wickets dec.) 		 	600

Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-57, 3-212, 4-360, 5-454, 6-545.
Did not bat: Muttiah Muralitharan, Nuwan Kulasekara, Ajantha Mendis.
Bowling: Zaheer Khan 37-2-156-2 (12nb, 2w), Ishant Sharma, 33-4-124-2, Sourav Ganguly 8-1-24-0,
	 Harbhajan Singh 43-2-149-2, Anil Kumble 37-4-121-0 (6nb), Virender Sehwag 4-0-17-0.

INDIA 1st Innings

Gautam Gambhir c Tilan b Muralitharan 		39
Virender Sehwag c Warnapura b Kulasekara 	25
Rahul Dravid b Mendis 				14
Sachin Tendulkar b Muralitharan 		27
Sourav Ganguly c Kulasekara b Muralitharan 	23
V.V.S. Laxman not out 				19
Dinesh Karthik c and b Muralitharan 		 9
Anil Kumble not out 				 1

Extras: (2lb) 				 	 2

TOTAL: (for six wickets) 			159

Fall of wicket: 1-36, 2-79, 3-79, 4-123, 5-138, 6-147.
Still to bat: Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, Zaheer Khan.
Bowling: Chaminda Vaas 5-0-23-0, Nuwan Kulasekara 7-0-38-1, Ajantha Mendis 18-3-58-1, Muttiah Muralitharan 15-3-38-4.