Indian middle order batsman nightmare on Sri Lankan turf continues as they failed to capitalized on the start given by their openers Virendra Sehwag (128 runs) and Gautam Gambhir (56 runs). Indian were slump from 167/0 to 178/4, however V.V.S Laxman (13 runs) and V.Sehwag (128 runs) were at the crease when bad light stopped play.
After a destructive start Indians lost four quick wickets for just 11 runs in the spare of 19 deliveries. The wall of Indian cricket team R.Dravid failed to deliver up to his reputation as he was caught brilliantly by Warnapura for just 2 runs on the bowling of new sensation A.Mendis.
Next to go was master-blaster S.Tendulkar who just face three deliveries scoring 5 runs before getting out lbw on the bowling of C.Vaas. Four balls later C.Vaas strikes again when S.Ganguly caught brilliantly by the wicketkeeper W.Jayawardne for duck.
Earlier Indian captain won the toss and decided to bat first and the decision was well supported by both the openers as they went on to put 167 runs stand for the first wicket. At lunch they were 151/0 in 29 overs.
In a pre-lunch batting blitz, Sehwag was only nine runs short of a historic century before lunch as the Sri Lanka bowlers felt the wrath of the Delhi batsman's flamboyant strokeplay. He had 14 fours and a six in his innings of 91 off 82 balls.
Rain hit the day1 of second test match badly with a half-hour downpour and no ball were bowled in 2nd session. However match was resumed at 16:30 hrs as Indian batting lineup started to crumble.
So far it seems only Indian opener able to learn from the mistake they made in first test at SSC. Now If India wants to get big score in first inning then V.Sehwag and V.V.S Laxman both must get big runs on day2 of second test match at Galle.
Both teams went on to this match with same side as played at SSC in 1st test match.
Indian team receives their third biggest defeat in their history of test cricket when they lost the first test match against the Sri Lankan lions. The main factor for their loss was two M (Murali and Mendis). These two bowlers not only kept tight line and length but also kept all Indian batsman’s guessing while they were at the crease.
First test match was completely dominated by both Sri Lanka spinners M.Muralitharan and debutant A.Mendis who between them took 19 wickets. With the help of these performances Sri Lanka able to thrash India by an innings and 239 runs in four days.
Indian team not only needs to make strategy to tackle these two bowlers but also have to improve their performance in the certain aspects of the game. Since in the last test match played at SSC three Sri Lankan batsmans able to score centuries with the help of some poor Indian fielding and way ward bowling by both the spinners.
In the first test match the top scorer Mahela Jayawardene who made 136 runs was dropped by wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik twice on 55 and 96 while Thilan Samaraweera, the next highest scorer with 127, was dropped by Gautam Gambhir at short leg when he was on 53.
Both Indian spinners failed to perform up to their expectation they didn’t look like bowlers who can get the wickets when required. Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh failed to hit the right length at the Sinhalese Sports Club and as a result could not place any pressure on the Sri Lankan batsmen.
Pitch at Galle stadium is more likely to support pace bowlers but spinner also have role to play during 2nd inning and both team look to go into the match with right combination. In the last test match played at this ground Sri Lanka able to dismiss England for mere 81 runs in their first inning and not surprisingly all the wickets are bagged by the Sri Lankan fast bowlers. So it will be another test of skills for the Indians and they need to win this match to remain alive in the test series.
"In Galle, because the sea is so close to the venue, the wind can be of assistance. Murali (Muttiah Muralitharan) knows this and is largely a result of his success at the venue." All in all Indian batting and bowling line up will face an uphill task in the second test match too.
If Indian team doesn’t want to repeat what happened at SSC then Garry Kirsten need to remind all the Indian batsman that they were playing test matches not twenty20 or ODI.Indian bowlers also need to hit the right length to get full use of Galle wickets.
Indian Squad for Test Series: Anil Kumble (Captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag (vice-capt), Gautam Gambhir, Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Karthik (WK), Parthiv Patel (WK), RP Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Pragyan Ojha, Ishant Sharma, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel.
Indian team for ODI series against Sri Lanka will be announced on 6th of August in the presence of ODI captain M.S. Dhoni who is currently taking rest after withdrawing from the ongoing test series against Sri Lanka.
Indian selector is also expected to select the team for ICC Champions trophy also on same day. The last day of announcing the squad is 12th of August. But Indian selector will look to complete both job on same day.
Indian team will play five one day international against Sri Lanka starting from 18th of August. First two ODI of five match series will be day matches while last three one day internationals will be day-night encounters.
The schedule for the ODI’s is 18th, 20th, 24th, 26th and 29th of August.
Indian batsman played some horrible shots to throw their wickets away on day three of 1st test match at SSC and left the team in horrible situations at 159/6 with only one recognized batsman at the crease V.V.S Laxman batting on 19 runs.
India started their inning in great fashion as the dangerous duo started to play their strokes right from the word go. However both forgot that they were playing test match not the one day international. But it was too late as Virendra Sehwag (25 runs) throws his wicket away while attempting to play a pull shot on the bowling of N.Kulasekara.
Next to go was G.Gambhir (39 runs) who tried to play a cross batted on-drive on the bowling of M.Muralitharan but manage a simple catch at short extra cover. India lost their third wicket in the face of Rahul Dravid as he failed to read debutant Ajantha Mendis' front-hand flick finger delivery in the spinner's fourth over of his maiden spell at Test level leaving India tattering at 79/3.
Sachin Tendular (27 runs) and Saurav Ganguly both looks in superb touch while they were at crease as both played some gorgeous shot on the bowling of Muralitharan and Mendis. But the magician Murali got rid of dangerous looking Tendulkar when his team needed the breakthrough. He misjudge the “doosra” of Muralitharan and bowled himself out by dragging the ball into the stumps.
Saurav Ganguly (23 runs) soon left his newly joined partner V.V.S Laxman when he tried to play a sweep shot on the bowling of Muralitharan but manage a top edge to gave Muralitharan his third victim of Indian inning.
Dinesh Karthik played most dreadfulstroke to throw his wickets away with just 10 overs left in the day. However only time will tell whether Indian batsman learns the lesson from the mistakes or they will crumble again in their second inning.
Earlier Sri Lankan batsmancarry on their good form from where they have left on day2 and played some aggressive stroke to pile up huge score of 600 runs before Sri Lankan’s captain M.Jayawardne declared the Sri Lankan inning. T.Dilshan was yet another batsman to cross three figure marks as he scored 125 runs of 144 deliveries.
Indian blowing at the end look worst as all their front line bowlers went on to concede more than hundred runs in their spell. Ishant, Zaheer and Harbhajan picked two wickets each while A.Kumble has worst figure than any one as he went wicketless in his 37 overs conceding 121 runs.
On Day2 of first test match Indian bowler struggle to make breakthrough as Sri Lanka piles up huge score. At the end of day2 Sri Lankan’s were 422/4 with T.Samarweeera batting on 111 and T.Dilshan on 20 runs.
At SSC too many records has been broken. First it was M.Jayawardne who equals the record of Scoring most centuries at same venue, he joined Don Bradman. Another history is added to test cricket when referral system was used and on field umpire have to change his decision.
On field Umpire Mark Benson given T.Dilshan out on the bowling of Z.Khan but it was challenged by T.DIlshan and finally the decision fell in his favour. Sri Lanka started day2 in blazing fashion as they started hitting boundaries in almost every over in first session of play.
Both overnight not out Batsman M.Jayawardne (136 runs) and M.Warnapura (115 runs) went on to score brilliant century. These two century followed by another brilliant inning from T.Samarweera (111 runs).
However Sri Lankan’s are well supported by the poor Indian fielding as they dropped as many as three catches and one catch was taken on no ball. M.Jayawardne get life twice on both occasions D.Karthik was culprit. M.Jayawardne first dropped on 55 and again on 93 runs. Gautam gambhir also dropped T.Samarweera on 65 runs on the bowling of H.Singh.
Due to heavy rain last night and some continuous rain early in the morning and in the end bad light spoil the play of Day1 of first test match between India and Sri Lanka at SSC.
Both teams spent almost whole day in their dressing room before match finally began at 03:30 PM local time. Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardne won the toss and decided to bat first. His decision was against the history of cricket played at SSC ground since the team batting first has won only on five occasions in the last 20 test matches played at SSC ground.
Since the condition was overcast and cloudy M.Jayawardne took bold decision of batting first. Indian new ball bowler Ishant Sharma draw first blood when he got rid of M.Vandort when Sri Lanka has posted only seven runs on the board. However K.Sangkara (12 runs) and M.Warnapura (50 not out) put on 50 run partnership for the 2nd wicket before Z.Khan bowled a beauty of delivery to caught K.Sangkara in the first slip by Rahul Dravid.
When play began umpires decided 42 overs will be bowled on 1st day but due to bad light match was stopped. At the end of day 1 Sri Lanka were 85/2 in 22 overs with M.Jayawardne batting on 16 and M.Warnapura batting on 50 runs.
Team News
Sri Lanka is playing with five regular bowlers. Three fats bowlers (C.Vaas, N.Kulasekara and T.Thusara) and two spinners (M.Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis). A.Mendis is making his test debut.
Indians is playing with same side that was played against Sri Lanka Board XI in their tour game.
The pitch at SSC ground looks good to bat with some help for the spinners as the game progresses. However in the next four days of test match heavy thundershowers forecast is expected due to this the seam and swing bowler will also play crucial role in this test match.
Stats and Trivia
The master batsman Sachin Tendulkar needs another 172 runs to surpass Brian Lara and become Test Cricket’s highest run getter. So far he has played eight innings in Sri Lanka and has averages 111.67 with four 100’s and two 50’s.
In the last 20 test matches played at SSC, teams batting first manage to win only on five occasions.
In the last 13 test matches played at SSC, Sri Lanka manages to win 10 times and just one lost to their account and that was to against the might Australians in 2004.
The mighty Australians will travel to South Africa in the middle of February to play three test matches, two twenty20 internationals and five one day international. The fist test match is scheduled to play from 26th of Feb to 2nd of March at Johannesburg.
Australia Vs South Africa Schedule (All timing are mentioned in GMT+05:30)
