Lankans flay Indian attack

Dilanka Mannakkara

Tharanga Paranavitana plays a cut. AFP

The Sri Lankan top order made haywire out of a hapless Indian bowling attack and dominated the entire first days play of the second test match at SSC grounds reminiscing that opening day in Galle, with Kumar Sangakkara and Tharanga Paranavitana, yet again, setting the stage for a mammoth first-innings total. Sri Lanka ended the days play on 312 runs for the loss of two wickets with Skipper Sangakkara remaining unbeaten on 130 with 15 wonderfully struck boundaries and Mahela Jayawardena on 13.

Sri Lanka’s Captain Kumar Sangakkara won the toss and decided to bat first on a dry and hard pitch which proved to be a batting paradise. Sri Lanka made four change to the team which played in Galle in which two were forced ones due to Murali’s retirement and Malinga’s stiff knee.

Mendis replaced Murali while Dhammika Prasad came in for Malinga. Sri Lanka also opted for the attacking off spinning option of Suraj Randiv for the defensive Rangana Herath and Dilhara Fernando came in for Chanaka Welagedara.

India were further weakened by a knee injury to opener Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh was ruled out due to failing to recover from fever. The replacements were Murali Vijay and Suresh Raina, who made his Test debut after playing in 98 ODIs to eventually become the man to play the most number of ODIs before making a test debut.

The virtual absence of swing and the serious lack of movement were ominous signs for a depleted Indian bowling attack, and the seamers didn’t help their cause by consistently bowling short, offering enough opportunities to score on a generous track. The Lankan openers Dilshan and Paranawithana started off in a positive fashion and attacked Ishanth Sharma who bowled all over the place. Tillakaratne Dilshan came to dominate the game, causing Ishanth Sharma’s first four overs to cost him 32 runs.

Sri Lanka raced towards the 50 mark in just 9.3 overs and India were on the defense as skipper Dhoni quickly introduced the spinners in to the attack. Dilshan played some delightful shots all around the park and smacked 10 fours to complete his 15th test fifty of just 39 deleveries. Dilshan’ innings came to an end as he was caught by Laxman at short extra cover who took a good catch.

The seamers again had problems with their lengths post lunch when the next batsman Sangakkara targeted them, pulling and whipping them behind square and delicately guiding deliveries pitched even fractionally short to the third man boundary.

Paranawithana also joined the act with some powerful back cuts and glides towards fine leg and moved towards a well deserved fifty of 112 balls with six fours to his credit. The pair gathered momentum once the 50 partnership was established which Sangakkara was the chief contributor. Sangakkara who played some beautiful back cuts off Harbhajan also reached his 34th test half century in 82 deliveries.

The Lankans went for tea with the score at 235 for 1 with Paranawithana on 89 and Sangakkara on 80.

After the tea break, Paranavithana reached his second ton in successive matches. Sanga soon joined Paranawithana by reaching his 23rd test ton with a wonderful lofted drive over mid on.

Paranawithana looked set for a big one but was unfortunate to be bowled off an inside edge off the bowling of Ishanth Sharma. Sanga and Paranawithana had put on 174 runs for the second wicket and the “King of SSC” Mahela Jayawardena joined the Lankan skipper.

The flow of runs began to decrease as Mahela was watchful from the start of his innings. As it came to the last overs of play Sanga hit some cracking boundaries and Mahela joined him by hitting last ball of the day for a boundary.

SRI LANKA 
1st innings:
T. Paranavitana b Sharma		100
T. Dilshan c Laxman b Ojha		 54
K. Sangakkara not out			130
M. Jayawardene not out			 13
Extras: (b4, lb6, w1, nb4)		 15

TOTAL (for two wickets, 90 overs)	312

Fall of wickets: 1-99 (Dilshan), 2-273 (Paranavitana).

Bowling: Mithun 17-4-75-0, 
	 Sharma 15-4-66-1 (nb2), 
	 Ojha 23-5-59-1 (nb2), 
	 Harbhajan 22-3-61-0 (w1), 
	 Sehwag 9-0-26-0, 
	 Raina 4-0-15-0.