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India in Sri Lanka / Features

Sri Lanka v India, 1st Test, SSC, Colombo, 4th day

Spin wizards stump India

Sri Lanka's utter humiliation of India resulted in plenty of records - favourable ones for the home team, and unwanted ones for India. Cricinfo looks at the important ones

S Rajesh

July 26, 2008

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Sri Lanka's utter humiliation of India resulted in plenty of records - favourable ones for the home team, and unwanted ones for India. Cricinfo looks at the important ones.

The magic of Murali and Mendis was too much for India in what was one of the most dominant performances by spinners against India © AFP

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The victory margin of an innings and 239 runs is Sri Lanka's third-biggest in Tests, and their heaviest at home. Their two largest wins were both in Zimbabwe.

For India, on the other hand, it was their third-heaviest defeat, and easily their worst against Sri Lanka. Their previous worst was on their last trip to the SSC, in 2001, when they lost by an innings and 77 runs. It isn't a venue India will want to return to in a hurry.

Muttiah Muralitharan, who finished with match figures of 11 for 110, has now taken 65 five-wicket hauls, and 21 ten-fors, in Tests. It's the second time he has taken ten in a match against India - his first effort had also been at this ground, on 2001. He has now taken 160 wickets at the SSC in just 23 Tests, at an average of 20.49, with 14 five-fors. The list of most number of five-fors at a venue has Murali taking the top three spots.

Much had been written about Ajantha Mendis before the match, and he completely lived up to the hype. His match figures of 8 for 132 is the best by a Sri Lankan debutant. The last time a bowler took more than eight on debut was in 2006, when Stuart Clark managed nine against South Africa in Cape Town, but before that, you'd have to go back ten further years, to 1996, when Pakistan's Mohammad Zahid took 11 for 130 against New Zealand in Rawalpindi. (Click here for the list of bowlers who have taken six or more wickets on debut since 1990.)

Indians have traditionally been excellent players of spin bowling, but here they were completely dominated by Murali and Mendis - it's only the third time spinners have taken 19 wickets against India, and the first in 39 years. (Click here for a list of most dominant performances by spinners against India.)

Of the 186 balls bowled by Murali and Mendis in the second innings, the Indian batsmen were not in control of 36, which converts into 19.35%. In the Indian first innings the corresponding percentage was 18.47, while the number was just 10.71% when Sri Lanka batted.

India managed to survive just 707 deliveries over the two innings, which is the among the least they have faced in their 135 Test defeats. One of their 14 poorer efforts came only a couple of Tests ago, when they faced 686 deliveries in their innings-and-90-run defeat against South Africa in Ahmedabad earlier this year.

Sachin Tendulkar has fallen to Murali seven times in 13 Tests. No other bowler has dismissed him as often. Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie have got him out six times each.

Murali has won 19 Man-of-the-Match awards, which is second only to Jacques Kallis' 20.

S Rajesh is stats editor of Cricinfo

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S Rajesh

Stats editor Every week the Numbers Game takes a look at the story behind the stats, with an original slant on facts and figures. The column is edited by S Rajesh, ESPNcricinfo's stats editor in Bangalore. He did an MBA in marketing, and then worked for a year in advertising, before deciding to chuck it in favour of a job which would combine the pleasures of watching cricket and writing about it. The intense office cricket matches were an added bonus.

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