The city woke up to a dull Friday. There was no sun. The conditions were overcast. Things did not improve much as the day progressed and the second Test between India and Sri Lanka petered into a tame draw at the Sinhalese Sports Club.
As promised by the curator, runs flowed in torrents from the wicket. More than 1,400 runs were scored, including two double centuries. With Sri Lanka leading the series 1-0, India go into the third and final Test in a must-win situation to avoid a series defeat. The final Test begins at the P Sara Oval here from August 3.
India’s last-wicket pair of Ishant Sharma and Pragyan Ojha frustrated the home team with their batting prowess, making 27 and 18 runs respectively. The tail-enders left the outgoing deliveries and defended the ones that were coming in.
Kumar Sangakkara and his men had a tough time handling them. The pair handled Suraj Randiv and Ajantha Mendis without much difficulty. The duo stitched together 38 runs for the 10th wicket, thereby taking the total to 707 before Sharma was dismissed by Dilhara Fernando.
However, Sharma and Ojha failed to show as much spark with the ball in Sri Lanka’s second innings. Abhimanyu Mithun got some movement and Sharma hit the deck hard and bowled a few bouncers before being hit for several fours in his first spell.
Mithun, who beat Tharanaga Paranavitana’s bat quite a few times, bowled a shorter one to get rid of Tillakaratne Dilshan. The dashing opener tried to pull but mistimed it. The catch landed in the hands of Sharma at short mid wicket.
Harbhajan Singh, who has been off-colour in this series, looked better on Friday. He extracted some turn and kept Sangakkara and Paranavitana in check. Finally, he managed to induce an outside edge off the latter which VVS Laxman gleefully pouched at second slip. Sangakkara declared the innings 45 minutes after tea. Play was then called off.
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