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 Colombo : Speedster Ishant Sharma struck for India as he removed opener Warnapura early in the innings after India were bowled out for a mere 249. At the end of the opening day, Sri Lankan were sitting pretty as another opener Michael Vandort was unbeaten on 3 with nightwatchman Vass giving him company.
Ajantha Mendis took yet another five wicket haul to rattle the Indian batting line up and restrict them to 249 in the first innings. Zaheer Khan was stumped off Mendis by wicketkeeper Jayawardene to wrap up the Indian innings. Zaheer scored 32 runs while Ishant remained unbeaten on 17 off 61 deliveries.
Gautam Gambhir was the top scorer for India with 72 whereas Ajantha Mendis was the wrecker-in-chief for Sri Lanka. He took five wickets for 56 in 28 overs.
The last pair of the Indian line up frustrated the hell out of the Sri Lankan bowlers and took India to a respectable total of 249 runs. Meanwhile, they also brought up the 50 run partnership for the tenth wicket. A few shots off the bat of Zaheer Khan would have made top order batsmen proud. He played amazing shots all round the park and got tremendous support from young Ishant Sharma who showed remarkable temperament to manoeuvre India out of trouble.
Vandort caught Harbhajan Singh off Muttiah Muralitharan to reduce India down to nine wickets and give Murali the second of the innings. Bhajji perished in an attempt to send the cherry out of the park. Zaheer Khan joined Ishant Sharma at the crease and the duo took India’s total past the 200 run mark.
Ajantha Mendis continued to torture the Indians as he took the fourth wicket of the innings when he clean bowled Anil Kumble for a score of 1. Kumble, who tried to defend the delivery, did not know that there was a lot of daylight between pad and bat and the ball sneaked through to rattle the stumps.
India lost its seventh wicket in the form of Parthiv Patel who was scalped by Muttiah Muralitharan. A flattish delivery struck Patel on the pads but the on field umpire upheld a huge appeal. Jayawardene decided to go upstairs again and won the review battle one more time.
India seemed to be plummeting themselves in trouble as VVS Laxman also departed after scoring 25 runs. He was stumped brilliantly by Prasanna Jayawardene off Ajantha Mendis. Laxman tried to defend a Mendis delivery but missed and that led to his back foot being stretched out of the crease; the advantage of which was taken by the Sri Lankan wicketkeeper.
The review system proved fatal for India once again as the in-form batsman Gautam Gambhir was declared leg before wicket off the bowling of Ajantha Mendis. A flat delivery pitched in line struck Gambhir on the pads but Benson was not convinced. Mahela, however, went upstairs again and won the review battle once more. Gambhir departed after a fine knock of 72. The southpaw’s departure meant half the Indian team was back in the dressing room with the score of 155
India suffered a massive blow in the form of ex skipper Sourav Ganguly as he had to walk off after being caught by Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene off Muralitharan at first slip. Ganguly tried to defend a delivery which had a bit of air but could not hide the bat behind the pads in time only to edge the cherry into Mahela’s hands.
Gautam Gambhir and Sourav Ganguly played cautiously and aggressively at the same time to guide India past the 150 run mark shortly after lunch. The duo made sure that India lost no further wickets and the run rate did not suffer too. Ganguly showed his dadagiri as he launched a few into the boundary with Gambhir getting into the act too.
India were off to a dominating start with Sehwag and Gambhir providing India a solid take off. But debutant Dammika Prasad got into the act and wrecked the Indian top order along with Billy Doctrove and the review system to reduce the visitors to 104 for the loss of three wickets at lunch.
The review system proved to be a disaster for the Indian team as Sachin Tendulkar perished in the same fashion as his colleague Rahul Dravid. Billy Doctrove saved country mate Brain Lara’s record for one more innings as he declared Tendulkar leg before wicket even though the ball had pitched outside off stump and was angling wide across.
Rahul Dravid became the victim of the review system one more time when Dammika Prasad struck him on the pads when the batsman had scored only 10. The impact, however, was more outside the off stump and lesser inside. Mark Benson ruled against the bowler’s appeal but Jayawardene decided to go upstairs and Dravid was declared leg before wicket. Sachin Tendulkar came to the crease chasing history.
Seems like Gautam Gambhir slams a fifty every time he comes out to bat and that is what he did again in the third Test against Sri Lanka. He scored his half century off just 58 deliveries to give India’s middle order a rock solid platform to build on. His half century also took India near the 100 run mark.
Shortly after putting up a half century stand for India, Virender Sehwag fell to debutant Dammika Prasad when he had the opener caught behind into the hands of wicketkeeper Prasanna Jayawardene. Sehwag scored a run a ball 21. Rahul Dravid joined Gambhir at the crease.
Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag continued their partnership form and gave India yet another fifty run opening stand off just 42 balls after Anil Kumble decided to bat first in the decisive Test. Both the batsmen contributed 21 runs each in the 50 run stand with the remaining void being filled by extras.
Indian skipper Anil Kumble won the first battle as he won the toss and elected to bat first on a batsman friendly hard surfaced pitch. When asked, Mahela Jayawardene said that he too would have liked to bat first on such a pitch. Kumble officially announced Parthiv Patel in the playing XI in place of Karthick. For Sri Lanka, Kulasekara is out and Dammika Prasad will make his debut
India and Sri Lanka face each other once again to prove their supremacy in the third Test of the Idea Cup in Colombo on Friday at the P Saravanamuttu Stadium. Both teams have made appropriate changes in their squads to go all guns blazing in the final Test.
Sri Lanka will make one change from the team that played in Galle as they have left out paceman Nuwan Kulasekara, who could take just one wicket in two matches.
India, on the other hand, are all set to drop Dinesh Karthick after the continuation of his lack lustre form despite innumerable chances on the international circuit. Parthiv Patel will don the gloves in place of the Chennai based wicketkeeper.
There were two one-sided affairs at Colombo and Galle, won by Sri Lanka and India respectively, but now, with both teams tied at 1-1, the series win is what both teams would be aiming for and all cricket lovers can expect a cracker of a game.
Sri Lanka have lost just one of their last seven home Test series since August 2004, the lone defeat coming against Pakistan two years ago.
India have clinched just one Test series after being 1-0 down in the past seven years, but Kumble said his team was determined to do it again. "In terms of confidence and strategy, we have done whatever we can to ensure we win the Test and series. That is the bottom line," he said.
“We did that against Australia at home in 2001 after being 1-0 down. All of us are looking forward to going home with the series win."
India will be hoping for their middle order batsmen to fire all cylinders which has not been the case in the two Tests of the series.
Another landmark to watch out for in the enthralling finale of a riveting series will be Sachin Tendulkar achieving the feat of the maximum runs in Tests overtaking Brain Charles Lara. The Master Blaster is only 97 runs short of the accomplishment. Although the ace batsman could not live up to his name in the first two Tests, he is one batsman who can never be counted out.
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