After taking six wickets of Sri Lanka in the second inning India are placed well to lift the Jaypee Cup by 2-0 and also to become the number one team in the ICC Test ranking. Only man standing between a win and loss is Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakara who is batting on 133 runs at the end of fourth days play. After conceding a mammoth 333-run first innings lead, Sri Lankans were struggling at 274 for six at close on the penultimate days play. Sri Lanka are still 59 rusn behind from the India. However as long as Sri Lankan captain is at the crease Sri Lanka will try to score as many runs as possible to put save them from the second successive loss by an innings. On fifth day Sri Lanka will try to prologue the game as far as possible on the other hand India will try to take the four wicket quickly and wrap the game. Nuwan Kulasekara (9 runs) was at the crease when play called-off on day four. He and Sri Lankan captain already added 66 runs for the seventh wicket. Earlier Sri Lanka resumed there day with 11 for no loss, however for them the day began with another umpiring howler against Tillakaratne Dilshan, followed by a stodgy 90-run stand between Tharanga Paranavitana (54 runs) and Sangakkara, before the middle-order wobbled against inspired bowling. On fifth day it will be interesting to see what tactics will be used by M.S.Dhoni as well as Kumar Sangakkara. Match Summary (Day3 Stump) Sri Lanka 1st Inning– 393/10 in 94.4 Overs T.Dilshan- 109 A.Mathews– 99 Harbhajan Singh– 32-3-112-4 P.Ojha- 23.4-1-101-3 India 1st Inning– 726/9 dec in 163.3 Overs V.Sehwag- 293 M.S.Dhoni– 100* M.Muralitharan- 51-4-195-4 R.Herath– 53.3-2-240-3 Sri Lanka 2nd Inning – 274/6 in 93 Overs K.Sangakara-133* N.Paranavitana- 54 Z.Khan- 17-4-51-2 P.Ojha– 23-4-84-2 |
