The Hindu : Sport : India four wickets shy of wrapping up series

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Dec 22, 2005

Sport

Sport

India four wickets shy of wrapping up series

S. Ram Mahesh

Despite partnership between Jayawardene and Dilshan

— Photo: S. Subramanium

COUNTER-PUNCHER: Tillakaratne Dilshan, along with Mahela Jayawardene, held the Indians at bay with a solid partnership.

Ahmedabad: Four wickets stand between India and a 2-0 series victory. Three sessions starkly stare Sri Lanka in the face. That, in essence, is the third Videocon Cup Test; the target of 509 is nominal.

For a while on Wednesday, a recalcitrant partnership of 105 between Mahela Jayawardene and Tillakaratne Dilshan kept the slender thread that bore the guillotine from fraying. But Ajit Agarkar caught Jayawardene after first letting him have a reverse swinger and Irfan Pathan winkled out Dilshan to leave the host completely in command.

The classy Jayawardene and the roguish Dilshan had counter-punched magnificently for 31.2 overs. Jayawardene, who for unknown reasons was stripped of vice-captaincy during the one-day series, compiled his fourth half-century of the series with a series of perfectly weighted strokes.

Buckles down

Dilshan, who walked out characteristically with a cap, surprisingly sent for a helmet and buckled down to support his partner. He sweated on balls that landed on a length, preferring to wait for the one marginally short and use his bat horizontally.

The difference between these two batsmen can be seen in each's approach to the cover drive. While Jayawardene chooses to stick to the template of the high elbow leading the stroke, Dilshan stamps his forceful personality on the stroke — slapping the ball with a wrist-enabled throw of the bat.

But to bat nearly two days in these conditions against this attack is a challenge most cricketing nations would quail at; and the Sri Lankans will take heart that few — probably not even they — expected to make such a fist of it.

Pathan, in his first spell, had left his cross-hair on the dressing-room peg as debutant Upul Tharanga and captain Marvan Atapattu rode their luck for 16 overs. Edges filtered through gaps in the slip cordon amid strokes of authority, and Kumble, at gully, failed to hold on to an edge when the skipper flashed.

Toe-hold

Harbhajan Singh, handed the new SG Test with its proud seam, cranked out deliveries that crackled through the air, gripped, gyrated and reared. Even the unplayables failed, and only a moment of stultifying ineptitude allowed India a toe in the door it had expected to break open with ease.

Atapattu has, in both this and the previous Test, uncannily picked the worst instant for indiscretion. It has cost his side every time; Sri Lankan post-mortems will doubtless dwell on this worrying trend.

With little of note happening, Sehwag switched his bowlers around, bringing Harbhajan on for the over before lunch. As if on cue, Atapattu lunged to greet an off-break. Beaten in the air, the balding thirty-five-year-old squeezed it out to Kaif at short-leg.

Chastened perhaps, Atapattu threw down to Kumar Sangakkara during the lunch break. The first hour post lunch was a period in which the finest defensive skill against spin and admirable application were showcased. Both left-handers picked the length and dead-batted, playing Harbhajan primarily off the backfoot and stretching forward whenever possible to Kumble.

Tharanga's 47 played up the folly of persisting with Avishka Gunawardene. The twenty-year-old is no stranger to adversity — his home was damaged by the tsunami last year — and he displayed remarkable composure under pressure. A glorious drive through the covers off Kumble stood out in Tharanga's 117-ball effort, which despite containing seven other fours, will be remembered for what he chose to let alone.

Dodgy decision

A dodgy decision provided the breakthrough: Kumble pushed Sangakkara back and breached his bat. But, with the leg-spinner bowling wide around the wicket and the ball turning, there was every chance leg stump would have been missed. Tendulkar had copped a shocker, and this, perhaps, were the giant scales evening out.

Once a cut is made, wickets haemorrhage in India. Thus, Tharanga found a tuck off the legs go no further than leg trap and Thilan Samaraweera — a flat-track-weak-bowling batsman if ever there was one — realised he was out of his depths. Twelve for three in 5.2 overs with Kumble the wrecker-in-chief.

Earlier, India kept the Lankans in the field for just 21 minutes in the morning. Sehwag beckoned after 29 had come in five overs, 16 of them from four Harbhajan boundaries. A queer wristy hook off Lasith Malinga caught the eye. The last wicket partnership had realised 69 runs — another indication of India's progress and Sri Lanka's decay.

Scoreboard

India — 1st innings: 398

Sri Lanka — 1st innings: 206

India — 2nd innings: V. Sehwag c Maharoof b Malinga 0, G. Gambhir c Sangakkara b Muralitharan 30, V.V.S. Laxman c Sangakkara b Maharoof 5, S. Tendulkar lbw b Dilshan 19, Y. Singh c Sangakkara b Bandara 75, M. Kaif lbw b Bandara 9, M.S. Dhoni lbw b Muralitharan 14, I. Pathan b Muralitharan 27, A. Agarkar c & b Bandara 48, A. Kumble (not out) 29, H. Singh (not out) 40; Extras (b-7, lb-9, nb-3, w-1) 20. Total (for nine wickets decl. in 71 overs) 316.

Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Sehwag), 2-9 (Laxman), 3-34 (Tendulkar), 4-81 (Gambhir), 5-100 (Kaif), 6-134 (Dhoni), 7-174 (Yuvraj), 8-198 (Pathan), 9-247 (Agarkar).

Sri Lanka bowling: Malinga 12-2-63-1, Maharoof 6-0-25-1, Dilshan 12-2-36-1, Muralitharan 21-5-90-3, Bandara 19-2-84-3, Mubarak 1-0-2-0.

Sri Lanka — 2nd innings: U. Tharanga c Gambhir b Kumble 47, M. Atapattu c Kaif b Harbhajan 16, K. Sangakkara lbw b Kumble 17, M. Jayawardene c & b Agarkar 57, T. Samaraweera c Kaif b Kumble 5, T. Dilshan c Dhoni b Pathan 65, J. Mubarak (batting) 18, F. Maharoof (batting) 2; Extras (b-1, nb-7) 8. Total (for six wickets in 85 overs) 235.

Fall of wickets: 1-39 (Atapattu), 2-84 (Sangakkara), 3-89 (Tharanga), 4-96 (Samaraweera), 5-201 (Jayawardene), 6-229 (Dilshan).

India bowling: Pathan 9-1-31-1, Harbhajan 27-6-68-1, Agarkar 11-3-18-1, Kumble 31-7-86-3, Sehwag 3-0-18-0, Tendulkar 4-0-13-0.

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