India pull pack one punch

Tag : Sri Lanka Tea

GALLE // India staged a remarkable fight-back to win the secondcricket Test against Sri Lanka by 170 runs with a day to spare atthe Galle International Stadium yesterday after setting the homeside a 307-run target.

The paceman Ishant Sharma ripped through the Sri Lankan top orderbatting to leave the home side in deep trouble before the spinnerHarbhajan Singh captured four wickets to ensure that India bundledtheir opponents for a pathetic 136 shortly after the tea interval.

Sri Lanka had no formula to counter the fiery pace of Sharma, whodismissed the opener Malinda Warnapura for a duck in his first overbefore having the in-form Mahela Jayawardene caught at gully byRahul Dravid. In between, Zaheer Khan accounted for KumarSangakkara to leave the host reeling at 10-3.

Sharma then came back to destroy any hope Sri Lanka had of staginga comeback when he had the set middle-order batsman TillekaratneDilshan caught behind by Dinesh Karthik for 38 as India came in toperform the last rites.

Only Thilan Samaraweera with an unbeaten 67 with eight fours put upsome resistance. He shared a 76-run stand with Dilshan afterHarbhajan had
removed opener Michael Vandort for 10 in his first over to leavethem tottering at 37-4.

The Indian skipper Anil Kumble said after the game he was notsurprised the way he came back after losing the first Test whilepaying a tribute to opening batsman Virender Sehwag whose 200 inthe first innings, followed by a 50 in the second, was crucial.

Sehwag scoring 201 in a total of 329 was amazing. He played twosuperb knocks in both innings to ensure we had a decent score todefend. The opening wicket partnerships were very crucial for us.

We have regrouped and done it in the past and the way our openersbatted and Sharma and Harbhajan bowled augurs well for the thirdTest, said Kumble. The deciding Test starts on Friday at the PSaravanamuttu stadium in Colombo.

The Sri Lanka skipper Mahela Jayawardene said the way Sri Lanka setabout going for the target was inexcusable.

Restricting India to a 269 total in the second innings wasbrilliant. Our batting was not consistent and thats where we lost.A target of 307 was a good score to chase and we didnt get theideal start, said Jayawardene.

India, resuming at 200-4, added 21 before Ajantha Mendis struckwith the familiar carrom-ball delivery to remove VVS Laxman enrouteto picking up his first 10-wicket haul in only the second Testmatch.

Muttiah Muralitharan then removed Karthik and Sourav Ganguly in twoovers to engineer a collapse in which five Indian wickets fell for14 runs.

Sri Lankas run-chase began disastrously with three wickets fallingin three overs. It could have been four, had Dravid held Vandort atsecond slip off Zaheers delivery.

But with in-form batsmen Warnapura, Sangakkara and Jayawardene backin the pavilion after three eventful overs, an Indian victory wasimminent.

apassela@thenational.ae