India claims 100th Test win

India thumped Sri Lanka by an innings and 144 runs on the fourth day of the second cricket Test here on Friday to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

It was the 100th Test victory for India and the biggest against Sri Lanka, bettering the previous win by an innings and 119 runs achieved way back in 1994.

Sri Lanka, tottering at 206-8 by lunch in their follow on, lost their remaining two wickets late into the second session to be bowled out for 269 at the Green Park stadium.

Thilan Samaraweera remained unbeaten on a defiant 78 off 213 balls after sharing a 73-run partnership with Ajantha Mendis (27) to frustrate the Indians.

But it was India who dominated Sri Lanka right through the match, piling on 642 in their first innings before bowling out the visitors for 229 to take a huge 413-run lead.

“It was a very good wicket. But it got slower and slower and made it a bit difficult to bat on,” said Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara.

“It was a great first innings by India and a poor one from us, in fact that decided the match. We needed good partnerships but loose shots here and there cost us dearly.

“We have to be mentally strong to come back in Mumbai. We need to create chances early and take them.”

India were indebted to Gautam Gambhir (167), Rahul Dravid (144) and Virender Sehwag (131) whose big knocks gave the bowlers a huge cushion of runs.

INDIA 1ST INNINGS 642
SRI LANKA 
1ST INNINGS 229 
SRI LANKA 2ND INNINGS

T. Paranavitana lbw b Sehwag	20
T. Dilshan c Dhoni b Sreesanth	11
K. Sangakkara b Harbhajan	11
M. Jayawardene run out		10
T. Samaraweera not out		78
A. Mathews c Dravid b Zaheer	15
P. Jayawardene b Harbhajan	29
R. Herath lbw b Harbhajan	13
M. Muralitharan b Ojha		29
A. Mendis lbw b Yuvraj		27
C. Welegedara c and b Ojha	4
Extras: (lb1, b7, nb14)		22
Total (for all out, 65.3 overs)	269
Fall of wickets: 1-13 (Dilshan), 2-37 (Paranavitana), 3-54 (M. Jayawardene), 4-54 (Sangakkara), 
5-79 (Mathews), 6-140 (P. Jayawardene), 7-154 (Herath), 8-191 (Muralitharan), 9-264 (Mendis), 10-269 (Welegedara).
Bowling: Zaheer 11-0-63-1 (nb13), Sreesanth 11-4-47-1 (nb1), Harbhajan 22-2-98-3, Sehwag 3-0-4-1, 
Ojha 15.3-4-36-2, Tendulkar 1-0-6-0, Yuvraj 2-0-7-1.
India won by an innings and 144 runs