— Photo: S. Subramanium

LETHAL LATE STRIKES: Harbhajan Singh celebrates Kumar Sangakkara's fall with Yuvraj Singh as Mohammad Kaif and Virender Sehwag rush towards him. The off-spinner struck four times in succession late in the afternoon in the third Test against Sri Lanka in Ahmedabad to reduce the visiting side to 131 for five. India, with a century from V.V.S. Laxman, posted 398.

Ahmedabad: The final session, which played such an important role in the Ferozeshah Kotla Test, returned to traumatise the Sri Lankans as off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, battling a minor form slump, ripped the heart out of the islanders' middle order with a spell of four wickets in 30 balls for just nine runs.

When Kumar Sangakkara contrived to get himself bowled behind his legs late on a bottom-heavy day two, he may as well have read out Sri Lanka's eulogy before departing. The visitor finished at 131 for five here at the Sardar Patel Gujarat Stadium, still 267 behind. This after controlling large parts of the first day.

Earlier Irfan Pathan (221m, 162b, 12x4) missed his maiden hundred — by 18 runs this time — and India's now proficient bottom order, blunting Murali, took the total to within nudging distance of 400.

Serene progress

The left-handed opener Upul Tharanga squared up on the back-foot and began to pull a sheepish bat away, but Pathan's swinging delivery had already caught the prod the debutant was trying to mask. M.S. Dhoni who went three straight collections without so much as laying a mitt on the ball — even being socked on the knee once — caught the one that mattered. Sri Lanka overcame this hiccough (14 for one) and progressed serenely till the Sardar with twitchy fingers did his stuff.

Sangakkara has been guilty in the recent past of gorgeous cameos when innings of substance were demanded. On Monday, he put his capable head down. The left-hander advertised his intent by walking out in full gear during the tea break for a spot of throw-downs.

Atapattu has been the keystone of his side's batting with fifties in both the innings of the Delhi Test. Both his dismissals there had swung the match India's way. For over an hour and forty minutes, he acquitted himself well in the battle of attrition. He drove with the heady meld of orthodoxy and wrist-work.

Mighty duel

Sangakkara, meanwhile, duelled with Anil Kumble. Two iron-willed, intelligent men pushed at each other with their considerable might; neither yielded. The leg-spinner threw up a mix of top-spinners and googlies, dragging Sangakkara wider and wider. Then the fastish leg-break arrived, and went off glove as the wicketkeeper-batsman was deceived. Mohammad Kaif, at short-leg, covered distance in the air to his right but only got a fingernail to the `chance'.

After the 125-ball alliance for 60, Atapattu fell to the sweep — captain Virender Sehwag taking the steepling top-edge, staring into the fast-setting evening sun. Jayawardene pressed forward like he did in the second innings in Delhi. The Harbhajan off-break dipped, turned, bounced, and smacked glove like it did in the capital city. Kaif, still around, caught it.

Kumble had, on Sunday evening, drawn attention to how crucial the first hour next morning would be. India's aim, the leg-spinner had said, was to breach 300 and "push on"; Sri Lanka needed to blast an early hole and curtail the home side. It chose to repose faith in quirky catapult Malinga and spin freak Murali. But Laxman and Pathan braced themselves and nudged ones and twos.

Pathan once went so far as shear his bat across a Murali off-break and send it straight, but largely desisted from the heave-ho. The left-hander's technique when driving is singular. He slices across the flight of the ball, rather than hit from behind, to generate bat speed. Thirty-three came in the first hour, before the advent of the new ball in the 93rd over hastened things an iota.

— Photo: S. Subramanium

AGONISINGLY CLOSE: Irfan Pathan will have to wait longer for his maiden Test century, falling short by 18 runs this time.

A dreamy Laxman wrist flick took India past 300, and that most Oriental of strokes, the leg glance, brought the Hyderabadi his ninth Test hundred — steel-in-spine and pretty. Laxman (104, 401m, 237b, 14x4) fell just before lunch to something he abstains from early on: playing across an in-nipper, left-knee buckling inwards to keep the ball outside the front foot, but opening up a gap for Farveez Maharoof.

The tall opening bowler bowled with control, and can ill-afford another method at his pace (early 130 kmph). But his wrist position ensured the ball came out with backspin and the seam stayed upright. On contact with the wicket it moved both ways. In a ten-over spell that straddled the lunch break Maharoof also dismissed Pathan.

On a day balls lobbed and popped into unmanned Lankan territory, the islanders let themselves down in the field with wicketkeeper Sangakkara — who drives the side's mood — donning tardy big gloves. And 42 extras in 398 is profligate.

Scoreboard

India — 1st innings: G. Gambhir c Tharanga b Malinga 19, V. Sehwag b Malinga 20, V.V.S. Laxman b Maharoof 104, S. Tendulkar c Mubarak b Muralitharan 23, Y. Singh c Samaraweera b Muralitharan 0, M. Kaif c Atapattu b Bandara 4, M.S. Dhoni lbw b Muralitharan 49, I. Pathan lbw b Maharoof 82, A. Agarkar b Malinga 26, A. Kumble c Jayawardene b Bandara 21, Harbhajhan (not out) 8; Extras (b-15, lb-13, nb-9, w-5): 42. Total (in 122.4 overs): 398.

Fall of wickets: 1-31 (Gambhir), 2-52 (Sehwag), 3-88 (Tendulkar), 4-88 (Yuvraj), 5-97 (Kaif), 6-183 (Dhoni), 7-308 (Laxman), 8-345 (Pathan), 9-384 (Agarkar).

Sri Lanka bowling: Malinga 32-4-113-3, Maharoof 27-11-52-2, Muralitharan 36-4-128-3, Bandara 24.4-3-69-2, Dilshan 3-0-8-0.

Sri Lanka — 1st innings: U. Tharanga c Dhoni b Pathan 2, M. Atapattu c Sehwag b Harbhajan 40, K. Sangakkara b Harbhajan 41, M. Jayawardene c Kaif b Harbhajan 0, T. Samaraweera c Kaif b Harbhajan 1, T. Dilshan (batting) 27, J. Mubarak (batting) 11; Extras (b-1, lb-2, w-6): 9. Total (for five wkts. in 40 overs): 131.

Fall of wickets: 1-14 (Tharanga), 2-74 (Atapattu), 3-74 (Jayawardene), 4-82 (Samaraweera), 5-105 (Sangakkara).

India bowling: Pathan 10-1-36-1, Agarkar 6-2-18-0, Kumble 13-2-50-0, Harbhajan 11-3-24-4.

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