Sri Lanka vs India, 2nd Test at Colombo, On This Day, Jul 26 2010 - Ball by Ball Commentary

RESULT
2nd Test, Colombo (SSC), July 26 - 30, 2010, India tour of Sri Lanka
642/4d & 129/3d

Match drawn

Player Of The Match
219 & 42*
kumar-sangakkara
New
SL 2nd Innings
Full commentary
end of over 45Maiden
SL: 129/3CRR: 2.86 
Thilan Samaraweera10 (46b 1x4)
Kumar Sangakkara42 (114b 5x4)
Pragyan Ojha 13-6-13-0
Harbhajan Singh 13-0-35-1

15.51: Umpire Harper hands the cap back to the bowler and looks towards Sangakkara, who has thankfully decided he's had enough batting practice. He's declared and that's the end of the game, unless Dhoni decides he wants to bat, but that's not going to happen. So an utterly forgettable Test match has come to an end. There has been individual brilliance of course, such as Raina's debut hundred, but the larger picture is ugly.

I've had a few emails asking why India aren't chasing the target. Seriously? Sanga wouldn't have declared if India planned to chase. I'll have the news from the presentation shortly ...

"Hello!! Is the presentation gonna happen or is everyone fast asleep?" asks Vrij. Patience my friend, patience.

Finally the presentation begins. MS Dhoni is pleased with a first-innings lead. "There's always pressure after the opposition scored 600 plus. at the end of the day, quite happy. It was the first time we were bowling in the second innings and there was wear and tear and the bowlers looked impressive." He says there was no thought of declaring behind SL's score in the first innings.

Advice for the groundsman from Dhoni: "It could have been a sporting track. It was all about the batsmen, the bowlers were just getting smacked all around the park."

Sangakkara: "It was hard work for the bowlers but I was impressed with how our guys bowled. Unfortunately India batted well. We'll see how the third Test goes and if we are 2-0 up it'll be good." Sangakkara's also the Man of the Match for his double-century in the first innings. Tony Greig's just given the longest preamble to the Man-of-the-Match ever.

Right so the SSC Test is done with, over to the P Sara for the series finale. Here's hoping for a better pitch and lots of wickets. Thank you for all your emails, we tried to go through as many as we could. Cheers!

44.6
Ojha to Thilan Samaraweera, no run

played off the back foot on the off side

44.5
Ojha to Thilan Samaraweera, no run

defended on the front foot once again

44.4
Ojha to Thilan Samaraweera, no run

rubbish shout for lbw, rubbish

44.3
Ojha to Thilan Samaraweera, no run

driven down the ground by Samaraweera

44.2
Ojha to Thilan Samaraweera, no run

defended on the front foot

44.1
4b
Ojha to Thilan Samaraweera, 4 byes

Huge turn across the right hander, that ball went past slip and it didn't hit anything

If Sanga declares after this over, we'll lose ten minutes for the change of innings, and that could be that.

end of over 441 run
SL: 125/3CRR: 2.84 
Kumar Sangakkara42 (114b 5x4)
Thilan Samaraweera10 (40b 1x4)
Harbhajan Singh 13-0-35-1
Pragyan Ojha 12-5-13-0
43.6
Harbhajan to Sangakkara, no run

defended on the off side

43.5
Harbhajan to Sangakkara, no run

left alone outside off stump as the ball spins away from him

43.4
1
Harbhajan to Thilan Samaraweera, 1 run

worked off the back foot behind square for one more

43.3
Harbhajan to Thilan Samaraweera, no run

oh good ball, Samaraweera got hit on the pad as he came forward, that pitched outside leg

43.2
Harbhajan to Thilan Samaraweera, no run

tossed up on off and middle, defended to silly point

43.1
Harbhajan to Thilan Samaraweera, no run

defended on the leg side off the front foot

end of over 431 run
SL: 124/3CRR: 2.88 
Kumar Sangakkara42 (112b 5x4)
Thilan Samaraweera9 (36b 1x4)
Pragyan Ojha 12-5-13-0
Harbhajan Singh 12-0-34-1
42.6
Ojha to Sangakkara, no run

big turn into the left-hander, sharp turn as well, Sanga covers his stumps and defends

42.5
Ojha to Sangakkara, no run

blocked off the front foot

42.4
Ojha to Sangakkara, no run

pushed back to the bowler

42.3
Ojha to Sangakkara, no run

nudged off the front foot towards the leg side

42.2
1
Ojha to Thilan Samaraweera, 1 run

Samaraweera moves back and plays the ball to square leg

42.1
Ojha to Thilan Samaraweera, no run

driven off the front foot towards mid-off

"22 more minutes of pain!" says Karthik like he has no alternative. England are also playing Pakistan at the moment. But we appreciate your solidarity Karthik.

end of over 426 runs
SL: 123/3CRR: 2.92 
Kumar Sangakkara42 (108b 5x4)
Thilan Samaraweera8 (34b 1x4)
Harbhajan Singh 12-0-34-1
Pragyan Ojha 11-5-12-0
41.6
2
Harbhajan to Sangakkara, 2 runs

edged but wide of slip

41.5
Harbhajan to Sangakkara, no run