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Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Gambhir best Indian opener after Gavaskar: Sehwag
Gambhir (167) on Tuesday slammed his fourth successive century on the opening day of the second Test against Sri Lanka and Sehwag, who himself scored a blistering 131, said his younger opening partner can score another hundred in the next match.
"He (Gambhir) is best opener India had after Gavaskar. He has hit four successive Test centuries and already has eight Test centuries in 25-30 Tests. I think with the kind of form he is in, he can slam a ton in the next Test as well," Sehwag said after India piled on 417 for two on the opening day.
"He was in good form and hitting well. So we were still scoring at over three and his boundaries took the pressure off me and I could wait before playing my shots," he said.
Sehwag was seen interacting with Gambhir after the left-hander foozled a shot against Muttiah Muralitharan in the morning session.
Asked what he told his Delhi team-mate, Sehwag said, "I told him to think big. You are good enough to score four successive centuries. Stay three hours and you will automatically get a hundred."
Sehwag said India would look to pile up 700 plus runs on the second day and put enough pressure on Sri Lanka so that the visitors crumble.
Sehwag and Gambhir were involved in a blistering 233-run opening stand that proved the bedrock of India's stunning batting display on the opening day of the second Test and the right-hander insists his teammates cannot relax or relent yet.
"We are in a positive frame of mind. We have scored a good total for opening day and scored at a good rate (4.63) to boot. Tomorrow, we will try to get 700-800 and then put pressure on the Lankans and get those 20 wickets," he said.
Sri Lanka managed just two wickets after a hard day's toil but Sehwag believes his bowling colleagues can overcome the lack of life on the track and bowl his side to victory.
"We bowled out Australia twice in a placid Mohali track (last year) and there is no reason why we cannot do it here. I hope Zaheer (Khan), Harbhajan (Singh), (S) Sreesanth and (Pragyan) Ojha will do it for us," he said.
Sehwag's own knock was a well-paced compilation as the Delhi dasher overcame a wobbly morning hour before blooming into his aggressive self.
"With little moister in air, I knew the ball would do something and I have to be careful. They had three spinners and I fancied my chance against them. So I took time and concentrated a lot before playing my shots," he said.
"In Ahmedabad they dropped me and here too they grassed one. I told myself to play first 8-10 overs and concentrate hard. I tried to leave balls outside off-stump and it's only after first hour that I played my shots," said the explosive opener, who got a life on zero when Mahela Jayawardene dropped him off Chanaka Welegedara.
Source: http://cricketnext.in.com
Sehwag, Gambhir, Dravid shine on Day 1
SCORE
India won the toss and elected to bat
India (Ist innings) 417 for 2
(Gambhir 167, Sehwag, 131, Dravid 85*)
Kanpur: It was India’s willow all the way on the first day of the second Test against Sri Lanka as the final scorecard read 417/2. The innings was studded with some elegant shot-making and one could only feel for the bowlers, who had no help from the Kanpur pitch either.
Gambhir was the man of the day, having crossed one hundred fifty runs, with the panache of the best stroke masters of cricket.
He finally fell to Murali’s guile and was caught out at a score of one hundred sixty seven runs.
Rahul Dravid continued with his good form with the bat, scoring a fine half-century as his shots were in sync with his centurion effort of the previous match.
The first and only jolt of the first half of the day had come in the form of Virender Sehwag’s scalp as the batsman was out at 131 runs from just 122 balls while trying to whack another one out of the park.
Muralitharan was his nemesis too, with the tweaker lofting one up to catch Sehwag’s fancy, resulting in his dismissal. However, Gautam Gambhir kept the tempo up, recording his 8th Test century in the process.
India were off to a great start with Sehwag and Gambhir hitting amazing knocks, reasserting the notion that they are the best opening pair in the world. Their stroke-play turned the scoreboard into a Tokyo taxi, with the total near the 250-run mark in a jiffy.
If the pre-lunch session had India stamped all over it, the post-lunch session was not much different either, barring the wicket of Sehwag.
It was an incredible session of play for India in the morning too, as the world’s most dangerous openers unleashed a flurry of boundaries on the islanders, rotating the strike at will.
There have been two changes floated into the Indian side with S Sreesanth and Pragyan Ojha coming in for Ishant Sharma and Amit Mishra respectively. Sri Lanka too made a change to their line-up, bringing in Ajantha Mendis, the mystery spinner to have a three pronged spin attack.
With the three spinner theory not working for Sri Lanka, Sangakkara would hope to use the morning dew tomorrow to try and shake the middle order from turning loose an array of records on a batsmen friendly pitch.
Source: http://cricket.zeenews.com
Friday, November 20, 2009
Tendulkar crosses 30,000 international runs
Batting in the second innings on the final day of the first Test against Sri Lanka, the batting maestro stroked his 35th run to achieve the latest landmark. Tendulkar, who recently completed 20 years in international cricket, is playing his 160th Test match for India.
Tendulkar has scored 17,178 runs at an average of 44 in 436 one-day internationals and 10 runs in the lone Twenty20 match that he has played, against South Africa. He ended his 160th Test here sitting on 12877 runs, with 43 hundreds and 53 half centuries at an average of 54.79.
The 36-year-old batting stalwart went on to score his 43rd Test hundred and remained not out exactly on 100 to help India draw the match after they had conceded a first innings lead of 334 runs to the Lankans.
Source: http://cricketnext.in.com
Full Score card - India v Sri Lanka Nov2009 Ahmedabad 1st Test
India 426 & 412/4 (129.0 ov)
Sri Lanka 760/7d
Match drawn
- Sri Lanka in India Test Series - 1st Test
- Test no. 1933 | 2009/10 season
- Played at Sardar Patel Stadium, Motera, Ahmedabad
- 16,17,18,19,20 November 2009 (5-day match)
India 1st innings | R | M | B | 4s | 6s | SR | ||
G Gambhir | b Welegedara | 1 | 13 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 10.00 | |
2.5 gone! Welegedara gets Gambhir with one that shapes to swing but doesn't do as much as he expected, hence the pretty poor attempt to push it outside the line and the result is a thin inside edge onto the stumps, he was looking to dab it away to the off but didn't time it 14/1 | ||||||||
V Sehwag | lbw b Welegedara | 16 | 31 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 145.45 | |
6.1 long thought and then its given! Welegedara pitches it on about middle and off, 134k, just shapes it in wee bit and strikes Sehwag flush on the front pad as he gets two-thirds forward, bat just late to come down, and after taking some time to ascertain whether there was any bat on it Tony Hill raises his finger, and on replays it shows he is spot on, that was hitting middle and off 27/2 | ||||||||
R Dravid | b Welegedara | 177 | 387 | 261 | 26 | 1 | 67.81 | |
92.4 big wicket! Welegedara continues with the full ball and this one just shapes back in a touch to Dravid, who looks to drive down the ground but leaves a gap between bat and pad and gets an inside edge onto middle and off 389/7 | ||||||||
SR Tendulkar | b Welegedara | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 133.33 | |
6.4 bowled em! Tendulkar pushes outside the line at one pitched back of a length, leaving a massive gap between bat and pad, and the ball misses the bat by not much before clipping the top of off 31/3 | ||||||||
VVS Laxman | b Prasad | 0 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | |
7.4 another one goes! Prasad now! Laxman perishes to a gentle off cutter outside off, doesn't move his feet as he pushes at the ball away from the body and he gets an inside edge onto leg stump, which goes cartwheeling some distance, that's what you get for playing poorly 32/4 | ||||||||
Yuvraj Singh | c Dilshan b Muralitharan | 68 | 129 | 93 | 13 | 0 | 73.11 | |
36.1 what's this, he's gone! Yuvraj comes out of his crease, looking to drive past extra cover, but is beaten in the slow loopy flight and stabs at the ball with bat and pad and gets a faint inside edge that pops up straight to the man at cover, so simple 157/5 | ||||||||
MS Dhoni*† | c †HAPW Jayawardene b Prasad | 110 | 200 | 159 | 10 | 1 | 69.18 | |
87.1 edged and taken! Dhoni goes for a brilliant 110, chasing a short and rising ball outside off stump and getting a thick outside edge to PJ behind the stumps 381/6 | ||||||||
Harbhajan Singh | b Muralitharan | 22 | 82 | 54 | 2 | 0 | 40.74 | |
104.1 that's a give away, well Harbhajan will walk back feeling a little strange, you don't often reverse sweep Murali against the turn and get away with it, Harbhajan exposed all his stumps and inside edged it onto the woodwork 426/9 | ||||||||
Z Khan | lbw b Herath | 12 | 40 | 29 | 2 | 0 | 41.37 | |
101.2 pushes it through at 79ks, its the one that goes the other way, pitches and slants down the leg side to Zaheer, who is rooted back in his crease, the bat is late to come down and he gets hit on the pad, they all go up and after a thought umpire Harper raises the finger, and replays show the ball would just have brushed leg stump 414/8 | ||||||||
A Mishra | not out | 7 | 16 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 140.00 | |
I Sharma | st †HAPW Jayawardene b Muralitharan | 0 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | |
104.5 excellent stumping indeed! The doosra squares up Ishant, sneaks past the outside edge and Prasanna Jayawardene whips off the bails in a flash before Ishant can drag his foot back, his foot was just in front of the white line 426/10 | ||||||||
Extras | (b 2, lb 2, w 1, nb 4) | 9 | ||||||
Total | (all out; 104.5 overs; 460 mins) | 426 | (4.06 runs per over) |
Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |||
UWMBCA Welegedara | 22 | 4 | 87 | 4 | 3.95 | (1nb, 1w) | ||
2.5 to Gambhir, gone! Welegedara gets Gambhir with one that shapes to swing but doesn't do as much as he expected, hence the pretty poor attempt to push it outside the line and the result is a thin inside edge onto the stumps, he was looking to dab it away to the off but didn't time it 14/1 6.1 to Sehwag, long thought and then its given! Welegedara pitches it on about middle and off, 134k, just shapes it in wee bit and strikes Sehwag flush on the front pad as he gets two-thirds forward, bat just late to come down, and after taking some time to ascertain whether there was any bat on it Tony Hill raises his finger, and on replays it shows he is spot on, that was hitting middle and off 27/2 6.4 to Tendulkar, bowled em! Tendulkar pushes outside the line at one pitched back of a length, leaving a massive gap between bat and pad, and the ball misses the bat by not much before clipping the top of off 31/3 92.4 to Dravid, big wicket! Welegedara continues with the full ball and this one just shapes back in a touch to Dravid, who looks to drive down the ground but leaves a gap between bat and pad and gets an inside edge onto middle and off 389/7 | ||||||||
KTGD Prasad | 22 | 1 | 106 | 2 | 4.81 | (2nb) | ||
7.4 to Laxman, another one goes! Prasad now! Laxman perishes to a gentle off cutter outside off, doesn't move his feet as he pushes at the ball away from the body and he gets an inside edge onto leg stump, which goes cartwheeling some distance, that's what you get for playing poorly 32/4 87.1 to Dhoni, edged and taken! Dhoni goes for a brilliant 110, chasing a short and rising ball outside off stump and getting a thick outside edge to PJ behind the stumps 381/6 | ||||||||
AD Mathews | 12 | 1 | 50 | 0 | 4.16 | |||
M Muralitharan | 25.5 | 4 | 97 | 3 | 3.75 | (1nb) | ||
36.1 to Yuvraj Singh, what's this, he's gone! Yuvraj comes out of his crease, looking to drive past extra cover, but is beaten in the slow loopy flight and stabs at the ball with bat and pad and gets a faint inside edge that pops up straight to the man at cover, so simple 157/5 104.1 to Harbhajan Singh, that's a give away, well Harbhajan will walk back feeling a little strange, you don't often reverse sweep Murali against the turn and get away with it, Harbhajan exposed all his stumps and inside edged it onto the woodwork 426/9 104.5 to Sharma, excellent stumping indeed! The doosra squares up Ishant, sneaks past the outside edge and Prasanna Jayawardene whips off the bails in a flash before Ishant can drag his foot back, his foot was just in front of the white line 426/10 | ||||||||
HMRKB Herath | 22 | 2 | 79 | 1 | 3.59 | |||
101.2 to Khan, pushes it through at 79ks, its the one that goes the other way, pitches and slants down the leg side to Zaheer, who is rooted back in his crease, the bat is late to come down and he gets hit on the pad, they all go up and after a thought umpire Harper raises the finger, and replays show the ball would just have brushed leg stump 414/8 | ||||||||
TM Dilshan | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3.00 | |||
Sri Lanka 1st innings | R | M | B | 4s | 6s | SR | ||
TM Dilshan | c Dravid b Khan | 112 | 203 | 133 | 12 | 0 | 84.21 | |
43.1 and it does! Zaheer drops short, Dilshan takes on the bouncer but it hurries onto him and comes off the shoulder of the bat, goes up high in the and settles in Dravid's palms as he calls for it and takes it jogging in from gully 189/2 | ||||||||
NT Paranavitana | c †Dhoni b Sharma | 35 | 81 | 55 | 6 | 0 | 63.63 | |
16.5 great catch! Dhoni it is, who flings himself to his left and plucks an outer edge with one hand in front of first slip, as Paranavitana is forced to play at one that angles across, that's a good delivery from Ishant after a few ordinary ones, it pitches on about middle and off and goes across and forces the batsman to feel for it 74/1 | ||||||||
KC Sangakkara* | c Tendulkar b Khan | 31 | 133 | 85 | 3 | 0 | 36.47 | |
45.3 gone, another one to Zaheer! Zaheer uses the bouncer again, its hurries onto Sangakkara as well who makes an utter mess of the hook shot and the top edge is taken by Tendulkar just at the edge of the boundary at fine leg 194/3 | ||||||||
DPMD Jayawardene | b Mishra | 275 | 610 | 435 | 27 | 1 | 63.21 | |
193.5 WICKET! finally for India! Mahela skips down the track to a flighted delivery and tries to loft inside out over cover, he misses and gets bowled, he goes after a fantastic innings, and fittingly after breaking the record for the sixth wicket partnership 726/6 | ||||||||
TT Samaraweera | c Yuvraj Singh b Sharma | 70 | 166 | 145 | 9 | 0 | 48.27 | |
86.4 good reflexes from the best catcher in the team - Yuvraj Singh, Ishant drops it short and the batsman pulls and the ball appears as if it's headed heavenward, Yuvraj at short square leg leaps up, cups it and tumbles down on the turf and throws it up in the air, Samaraweera's gone and the relief is palpable in the Indian camp 332/4 | ||||||||
AD Mathews | c Gambhir b Harbhajan Singh | 17 | 44 | 34 | 1 | 1 | 50.00 | |
96.2 some relief for India at the stroke of lunch, Harbhajan tosses it up on middle, Mathews chips down the track and tries to clip that to the on side, the ball catches the top flap of the pad and Gambhir takes it one-handed at forward short leg, was there some bat on it? Harper and the rest thought so. I need to see another replay of that 375/5 | ||||||||
HAPW Jayawardene† | not out | 154 | 415 | 314 | 11 | 0 | 49.04 | |
KTGD Prasad | c Mishra b Harbhajan Singh | 21 | 28 | 35 | 2 | 0 | 60.00 | |
202.4 caught at deep midwicket and Sangakkara calls his batsmen in!! Prasad lofts the ball from middle stump but holes out to Mishra 760/7 | ||||||||
Extras | (b 5, lb 16, w 4, nb 20) | 45 | ||||||
Total | (7 wickets dec; 202.4 overs; 843 mins) | 760 | (3.75 runs per over) |
Did not bat HMRKB Herath, M Muralitharan, UWMBCA Welegedara |
Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |||
Z Khan | 36 | 6 | 109 | 2 | 3.02 | (9nb, 2w) | ||
43.1 to Dilshan, and it does! Zaheer drops short, Dilshan takes on the bouncer but it hurries onto him and comes off the shoulder of the bat, goes up high in the and settles in Dravid's palms as he calls for it and takes it jogging in from gully 189/2 45.3 to Sangakkara, gone, another one to Zaheer! Zaheer uses the bouncer again, its hurries onto Sangakkara as well who makes an utter mess of the hook shot and the top edge is taken by Tendulkar just at the edge of the boundary at fine leg 194/3 | ||||||||
I Sharma | 33 | 0 | 135 | 2 | 4.09 | (3nb, 2w) | ||
16.5 to Paranavitana, great catch! Dhoni it is, who flings himself to his left and plucks an outer edge with one hand in front of first slip, as Paranavitana is forced to play at one that angles across, that's a good delivery from Ishant after a few ordinary ones, it pitches on about middle and off and goes across and forces the batsman to feel for it 74/1 86.4 to Samaraweera, good reflexes from the best catcher in the team - Yuvraj Singh, Ishant drops it short and the batsman pulls and the ball appears as if it's headed heavenward, Yuvraj at short square leg leaps up, cups it and tumbles down on the turf and throws it up in the air, Samaraweera's gone and the relief is palpable in the Indian camp 332/4 | ||||||||
Harbhajan Singh | 48.4 | 4 | 189 | 2 | 3.88 | |||
96.2 to Mathews, some relief for India at the stroke of lunch, Harbhajan tosses it up on middle, Mathews chips down the track and tries to clip that to the on side, the ball catches the top flap of the pad and Gambhir takes it one-handed at forward short leg, was there some bat on it? Harper and the rest thought so. I need to see another replay of that 375/5 202.4 to Prasad, caught at deep midwicket and Sangakkara calls his batsmen in!! Prasad lofts the ball from middle stump but holes out to Mishra 760/7 | ||||||||
A Mishra | 58 | 6 | 203 | 1 | 3.50 | (8nb) | ||
193.5 to DPMD Jayawardene, WICKET! finally for India! Mahela skips down the track to a flighted delivery and tries to loft inside out over cover, he misses and gets bowled, he goes after a fantastic innings, and fittingly after breaking the record for the sixth wicket partnership 726/6 | ||||||||
Yuvraj Singh | 16 | 1 | 64 | 0 | 4.00 | |||
SR Tendulkar | 7 | 0 | 20 | 0 | 2.85 | |||
V Sehwag | 4 | 1 | 19 | 0 | 4.75 | |||
India 2nd innings | R | M | B | 4s | 6s | SR | ||
G Gambhir | c Prasad b Herath | 114 | 337 | 230 | 13 | 0 | 49.56 | |
79.6 both Sehwag and Gambhir perish to poor shots, Gambhir decides to give him the charge and loft against the spin, he doesn't get to the pitch of the ball and ends up splicing it high in the air to mid-off, Prasad jogs back and takes it, there's no real need to charge the bowlers when you're trying to save a game 275/4 | ||||||||
V Sehwag | c Mathews b Herath | 51 | 73 | 67 | 7 | 0 | 76.11 | |
16.6 rush of blood and it's a very tame dismissal, the ball was tossed up generously on the off stump and invited the big hit, Sehwag was on his knee to slog but failed to get to the pitch of it, the top edge landed down Mathews' throat at mid-on 81/1 | ||||||||
R Dravid | lbw b Welegedara | 38 | 98 | 66 | 6 | 0 | 57.57 | |
40.1 lbw!! Welegedara goes round the wicket and angles a full ball into Dravid who leans across to flick, he misses and the ball thuds into his pad, the Sri Lankans appeal in unision and Harper sends Dravid on his way, replays show the ball clipping the outside of leg stump, close call 169/2 | ||||||||
A Mishra | c Dilshan b Mathews | 24 | 69 | 51 | 4 | 0 | 47.05 | |
55.6 sharp catch! Dilshan at leg gully! Mathews straightens his length and Mishra plays a very good-looking clip off the pads but Dilshan tumbles to his right and takes a one-handed blinder very low to the ground, at full stretch, and then lies on his back as his team-mates crowd around 209/3 | ||||||||
SR Tendulkar | not out | 100 | 298 | 211 | 11 | 0 | 47.39 | |
VVS Laxman | not out | 51 | 202 | 160 | 5 | 0 | 31.87 | |
Extras | (b 12, lb 9, w 2, nb 11) | 34 | ||||||
Total | (4 wickets; 129 overs) | 412 | (3.19 runs per over) |
Did not bat Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni*†, Harbhajan Singh, Z Khan, I Sharma |
Fall of wickets1-81 (Sehwag, 16.6 ov), 2-169 (Dravid, 40.1 ov), 3-209 (Mishra, 55.6 ov), 4-275 (Gambhir, 79.6 ov) |
Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |||
UWMBCA Welegedara | 21 | 1 | 76 | 1 | 3.61 | (2nb, 2w) | ||
40.1 to Dravid, lbw!! Welegedara goes round the wicket and angles a full ball into Dravid who leans across to flick, he misses and the ball thuds into his pad, the Sri Lankans appeal in unision and Harper sends Dravid on his way, replays show the ball clipping the outside of leg stump, close call 169/2 | ||||||||
KTGD Prasad | 13 | 0 | 56 | 0 | 4.30 | (3nb) | ||
HMRKB Herath | 40 | 6 | 97 | 2 | 2.42 | |||
16.6 to Sehwag, rush of blood and it's a very tame dismissal, the ball was tossed up generously on the off stump and invited the big hit, Sehwag was on his knee to slog but failed to get to the pitch of it, the top edge landed down Mathews' throat at mid-on 81/1 79.6 to Gambhir, both Sehwag and Gambhir perish to poor shots, Gambhir decides to give him the charge and loft against the spin, he doesn't get to the pitch of the ball and ends up splicing it high in the air to mid-off, Prasad jogs back and takes it, there's no real need to charge the bowlers when you're trying to save a game 275/4 | ||||||||
M Muralitharan | 38 | 6 | 124 | 0 | 3.26 | (6nb) | ||
AD Mathews | 15 | 6 | 29 | 1 | 1.93 | |||
55.6 to Mishra, sharp catch! Dilshan at leg gully! Mathews straightens his length and Mishra plays a very good-looking clip off the pads but Dilshan tumbles to his right and takes a one-handed blinder very low to the ground, at full stretch, and then lies on his back as his team-mates crowd around 209/3 | ||||||||
TM Dilshan | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2.00 | |||
NT Paranavitana | 1 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 7.00 | |||
Match details |
Toss India, who chose to bat Series 3-match series level 0-0 |
Player of the match DPMD Jayawardene (Sri Lanka) |
Umpires DJ Harper (Australia) and AL Hill (New Zealand) TV umpire AM Saheba Match referee JJ Crowe (New Zealand) Reserve umpire SD Ranade |
Close of play 16 Nov day 1 - India 1st innings 385/6 (R Dravid 177*, Harbhajan Singh 2*, 90 ov) 17 Nov day 2 - Sri Lanka 1st innings 275/3 (DPMD Jayawardene 36*, TT Samaraweera 45*, 70 ov) 18 Nov day 3 - Sri Lanka 1st innings 591/5 (DPMD Jayawardene 204*, HAPW Jayawardene 84*, 160 ov) 19 Nov day 4 - India 2nd innings 190/2 (G Gambhir 74*, A Mishra 12*, 45 ov) 20 Nov day 5 - India 2nd innings 412/4 (129 ov) - end of match |
Match notes |
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Tendulkar, Gambhir, dead pitch frustrate Sri Lanka
SCORE
India (Ist innings) 426/10
Srilanka (Ist innings) 760 for 7 dec
India (2nd innings) 412 for 4
(Sachin Tendulkar 100*, Gautam Gambhir 114, VVS Laxman 51)
Full score card
Result
Match Draw
The Ahmedabad Test may have ended in a draw but if there was one winner it had to be the pitch.
The genius of Sachin Tendulkar (100*), the resolve of Gautam Gambhir (114) and the elegance of VVS Laxman (51) beautifully came together to crush Sri Lanka’s dream of registering their first Test victory on the Indian soil. For the game that saw a staggering 1,598 runs being scored for the loss of only 21 wickets – highest in a match played in India – it had to end in a draw.
In a game which saw as many as seven batsmen scoring centuries (see the first table below), Mahela Jayawardene stood out for his magical 257 — his first century in India. It also made him Sri Lanka’s highest Test run-getter and the ninth batsmen in the world to score over 9,000 runs. Quite deservingly he was declared player of the match. He shared a world record 351-run partnership with Prasanna Jayawardene (154) for the sixth wicket, which was probably the most remarkable phase of the match.
The men from the Emerald Isles failed to achieve the desired result even after having a tight stranglehold on the match for most of the sessions. Reason: the Indians fought back hard when it mattered the most.
The world wanted Tendulkar to mark his two decades of extraordinary career with a special knock and he obliged. The master notched up his 43rd Test century to save the match for India and on the way reached the stupendous landmark of 30,000 international runs (see the second table below). Apart from a brief phase of aggression when he charged down the ground to Muralitharan, Tendulkar was the epitome of caution during his unbeaten knock of 100. The innings was peppered with his signature drives, back-foot punches and crafty sweeps and included 11 boundaries.
Before the Little Master took over, the foundation of India’s fightback was laid by Gautam Gambhir, who carved out a pugnacious 114 runs. He showed immense maturity while getting to his seventh Test hundred and his sixth in the last eight Tests. Though the innings had no signs of heroics, it sure had moments of brilliance. The confident drives, the delicate late-cuts and the aggressive charge down the ground against Muralitharan brought up 12 sparkling boundaries in his innings.
The lunch-break probably wavered Gambhir’s concentration and indiscretion crept into his batting. He charged down the ground against the spin of Herath and holed out to mid-off.
The two centurions were well supported by VVS Laxman, the man who often thrives in the pressure cooker situation. The elegant right-hander once again stood up for his team, as he eased his way to an unbeaten 160-ball 51.
Mathews was the pick of the Lankan bowlers in the first session. He bowled according to the field, maintained a straight line and continued to bowl fuller length. The wicket of Mishra was a testimony to the all-rounder’s disciplined bowling effort. While Muralitharan continued to struggle, bowling flat on the dead track, Herath kept trying different things. He gave the ball a lot more flight, which lured Sehwag and Gambhir into suicidal big shots.
Apart from the first session of the match when the Sri Lankan fast bowlers ran through the Indian top order, the bowlers from both sides had very little to smile about. The spinners in particular, had a forgettable five days, as the batsmen mercilessly feasted on them. While Amit Mishra went for 203 runs and Harbhajan for 189, it was for the first time in his career that the wily old Muttiah Muralitharan went wicket-less in the second innings of a Test after bowling more than 25 overs.
source: www.cricketnirvana.com