Despite a day being washed off the first Test, India — the No.1 team in the world — still manage to hand Sri Lanka a comprehensive 10-wicket victory; Murali bows out in style.
To say India’s performance in Galle was not commensurate with their ICC Test ranking would be to make an understatement. They lost the first Test against Sri Lanka in three and half days. World No.1?
Their bowling was depleted no doubt but batting was below par — again that is an understatement. The famed batting line-up failed twice in two days. Curiously enough, Mahendra Singh Dhoni blamed the defeat on inexperience of India’s bowling attack.
India started Day 5 trying to save the Test. The team’s survival depended on the sixth wicket association between Dhoni and VVS Laxman. It was not to be. The skipper was dismissed early on in the day and there ended India’s last hopes of eking out a draw. Some Indian batsmen looked to the sky. There was no sign of rain.
Resistance did come, in the form of Ishant Sharma and Abhimanyu Mithun and their associations with Laxman, but it was too late if not too little. Their gutsy batting forced Lanka to bat for the second time in the match. Tillakaratne Dilshan and Tharanga Paranavitana knocked off the required 95 runs in just over 14 overs to make it 1-0 Sri Lanka in the series.
The Day 5, however, belonged to Lasith Malinga and Muttiah Muralitharan. The former took his third five-wicket haul while the latter took his tally to 800 wickets, a peak that is unlikely to be scaled any time in the near future. Or ever.
Dhoni started with a brilliant sweep to Muralitharan off the second ball of the day. But Malinga ensured that Dhoni’s stay in the middle did not last long. Laxman played with soft hands and used his feet well to the spinners and the seamers. His drives and a couple of pulls were a delight to watch. He tried to consolidate the innings with Harbhajan but the latter chose to get runs instead of supporting his partner from the other end. Playing a sweep, he mistimed a Murali full toss.
Debutant Mithun joined Laxman and batted with a lot more application than some of his senior teammates. He avoided doing anything extraordinary and kept things simple. He frustrated Muralitharan with his forward and backward defence. He smacked the off spinner twice in one over in the off side. Malinga came back to end Mithun’s resistance.
Ishant and Laxman then batted sensibly but their 68-run ninth wicket stand came to an end when Laxman failed to regain his crease in time. Laxman’s dismissal raised tension as Murali then was one wicket short of his 800 landmark. Ishant and Pragyan Ojha tried put their best foot forward to extend India’s innings but Murali and Lanka had the last laugh when the veteran spinner forced an edge from India’s No.11 batsman. That kick started Lanka’s celebration which culminated with a 10-wicket win for them.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}