Sri Lanka vs India, 1st Test at Galle, Jul 18 2010, India tour of Sri Lanka

RESULT
1st Test, Galle, July 18 - 22, 2010, India tour of Sri Lanka
(T:95) 520/8d & 96/0
(f/o) 276 & 338

Sri Lanka won by 10 wickets

Player Of The Match
64, 2/55 & 5/50
lasith-malinga
Match centre 
Scorecard summary
Sri Lanka 520/8(124 overs)
1st INNINGS
India 276/10(65 overs)
1st INNINGS
India 338/10(115.4 overs)
2nd INNINGS
69 (127)
3/128 (44.4)
Sri Lanka 96/0(14.1 overs)
2nd INNINGS

That brings an end to our coverage of this wonderful Test. Hope you enjoyed and do join us for the next game on the 26th. On behalf of Team Cricinfo, this is Nitin Sundar signing off. Cheers!

Right, now we have a series of presentations for Murali! Boy he better have enough shelf space for these mementoes.. what a send-off! Finally he comes up to Tony Greig to have a chat.. Phew!

Murali: "I'd like to thank the president for coming to support me. Thanks to my wife and family for their support. To my team-mates, past and present, through the 19 years for supporting me... To the cricket board and officials, and everyone else." Well, thank YOU Murali!

"I started playing when I was 8 years old and I still listen to my coach from school days. Arjuna Ranatunga and de Silva and all those guys helped me through the tough times in 1995.. the umpires make their judgments through naked eye, so nothing against them.. I have no grudge against them and happy to have made it through the tough times. I always thought if something goes wrong I can bowl leg spin and continue playing cricket!"

"I'm available for the World Cup if the selectors need me. I want to play some more Twenty20 cricket. I made a lot of friends through cricket and sometimes my team-mates said I talk too much with opposition players!"

Tony Greig thanks the champ for all the memories and gives him three cheers!

Sangakkara: "From the start, winning the Test was the aim, that would have been the perfect send-off for Murali too. Pleased that he got to 800 and all the best to him. Malinga was truly the MoM, the way he bowled turned things around and made things easy for Murali and the rest.. Malinga's stand with Herath made a big difference. We must appreciate the groundsmen under Jayananda Warnaweera for his efforts.. on another ground, this match may not have been possible after all the rain."

Virender Sehwag is the "most stylish player of the match" and wins a motorbike for his efforts.

Malinga is deservedly Man of the Match. "I am playing after three years in Tests and it was a memorable Tests, so I am pleased. I am happy he took 800 and I will treasure the moment." He just smiles when Greig asks him whether he was worried he'll take all the wickets!

Dhoni: "Well of course, out of the 15 sessions played only one session we won, so that's not the ideal start to the series. Happy with the way Sehwag played.. Mithun bowled well, so plenty to look forward to. Great moment for Murali, we all knew he will come up with a great show being the great bowler he is, but that did not put us under pressure. Glad that he reached the magical figure of 800. You need a bit of experience given the conditions, so we did miss our senior seamers, still I am happy with the way Ishant and Mithun came back on the third day."

Lorgat: "This is a special day. All the fans have stayed on right to the end. On the behalf of ICC and the Indian team, we wish Murali the very best. You have been a living legend and extremely special to all of us. Thanks Murali from all of us."

The whole of Galle seems to have assembled for the presentation! Tony Greig does the honours. Haroon Lorgat is there too. Murali's family is on the podium, his son's tee shirt reads "6 runs"... Hmm.. looks like the little one is more interested in the willow than in the leather.

Stay tuned for the presentation. Ten Sports seems to be cashing in on the euphoria with an extended post-match analysis session.

Abhishek makes a valid observation: "Ntini hasn't retired either. He's currently at 390 wickets." Somehow I get the feeling Ntini's time is over. What a champ he was in his pomp! Don't think Murali and Ntini had competition for cricketers who seemed to just enjoy being out there.

Now with Murali bowing out, Harbhajan with 355 wickets becomes the man with highest number of scalps among active players. Is anyone likely to go past him in the near future? Chaminda Vaas finished with 355. Vettori has 325, Brett Lee has stalled at 310. Kallis is way behind at 266 (amazing that one of the best batsmen of alltime figures in this discussion!), ahead of Kaneria, Zaheer Khan and the rest. Steyn is a long way away though catching up fast. Hope he stays clear of injuries.. Who else? Mitchell Johnson has just picked one more in Headingley.

Maulik thinks its all bleak for tweak: "Era of greatest rivalry Warne, Murali and Kumble ends... Spin department is over in world cricket!!!" Arpit agrees with Maulik: "The one Murali named his successor went wicketless. That answers the question as to the future of spinners."

Anand: "Liked the gesture of authorities to allow free entry to the grounds today, which didn't happen here when Ganguly retired!! something to learn..."

Neel Desai: "Murali's bows out - a legend leaves. But what about the future of world spinners? Dont see any long haul runners in the wings." Sri Lanka doing a lap of honour. Murali is on his team's shoulders and Galle stands up as one to applaud the master!

The trend continues. India lost the opening Test in both their last previous tours to Sri Lanka. On both occasions they came back to win the second Test and then lose the third. They will want the first half of that script to play out in the second Test in Colombo in four days time.

All that can wait. Let's all put our hands together for a master bowler and a wonderful human being. Murali - you will be missed. Well played champ!

14.1
6
Harbhajan to Dilshan, SIX runs

that's the way it's done! Dilshan sashays down the pitch, gets to the pitch of the ball and slams Harbhajan high over long on. That shot sums up Sri Lanka's dominance in this game. The only way it could have been more fitting was if Murali was the man hitting the runs, but no big deal - well played Sri Lanka!

end of over 143 runs
SL: 90/0CRR: 6.42 
Tharanga Paranavitana23 (42b 4x4)
Tillakaratne Dilshan62 (46b 6x4)
Pragyan Ojha 3-0-11-0
Harbhajan Singh 2-0-18-0
13.6
Ojha to NT Paranavitana, no run

flight again outside off, Paranavitana gets nicely across and defends to the on side.

13.5
Ojha to NT Paranavitana, no run
13.4
Ojha to NT Paranavitana, no run

flighted outside off, Paranavitana leans out and smothers the spin. No hurry.

13.3
1
Ojha to Dilshan, 1 run

tossed well up on off stump, driven firmly down to long off

13.2
2
Ojha to Dilshan, 2 runs

outside off and this time he plays it square for a couple

13.1
Ojha to Dilshan, no run

flight and turn from middle stump, Dilshan easily picks the spin and drives with the turn

Eight to win. The end is nigh.

end of over 137 runs
SL: 87/0CRR: 6.69 
Tharanga Paranavitana23 (39b 4x4)
Tillakaratne Dilshan59 (43b 6x4)
Harbhajan Singh 2-0-18-0
Pragyan Ojha 2-0-8-0
12.6
Harbhajan to NT Paranavitana, no run

on off stump this time and Paranavitana comes forward into the defensive towards mid off

12.5
Harbhajan to NT Paranavitana, no run

over-pitched on leg stump and Paranavitana taps it back to the bowler

12.4
Harbhajan to NT Paranavitana, no run

flighted on middle and off, Paranavitana comes forward and defends

12.3
1
Harbhajan to Dilshan, 1 run

another aggressive sweep, he's targetting Bhajji at the fag end of the game, this time just a single to midwicket

12.2
4
Harbhajan to Dilshan, FOUR runs

beautiful cut shot, that turned well into him from outside off and he had no room to play it, still managed to send it very fine from the leg stump line

Gocho from London: "In the end, what decided the result of this game were the crucial runs that the indian pie-chuckers let Malinga and Herath score. Nice tail-piece what?"

12.1
2
Harbhajan to Dilshan, 2 runs

average ball turning down the leg and swept away easily behind square

end of over 123 runs
SL: 80/0CRR: 6.66 
Tillakaratne Dilshan52 (40b 5x4)
Tharanga Paranavitana23 (36b 4x4)
Pragyan Ojha 2-0-8-0
Harbhajan Singh 1-0-11-0
11.6
1
Ojha to Dilshan, 1 run

short and wide outside off, Dilshan cuts again to Yuvraj sweeping on the fence

11.5
1
Ojha to NT Paranavitana, 1 run

this time he gets inside the line and tickes it behind square on the leg side for one

11.4
Ojha to NT Paranavitana, no run

similar ball, Paranavitana gets forward and defends to the on side

11.3
Ojha to NT Paranavitana, no run

drifts in from over the wickets and spin into Paranavitana's pads as he looks to defend

11.2
1
Ojha to Dilshan, 1 run

slightly shorter outside off, Dilshan latches on with a cut shot fielder by the sweeper in the outfield

11.1
Ojha to Dilshan, no run

tossed up on leg stump, Dilshan drives inside out with the spin

Ojha comes on.

end of over 1111 runs
SL: 77/0CRR: 7.00 
Tharanga Paranavitana22 (33b 4x4)
Tillakaratne Dilshan50 (37b 5x4)
Harbhajan Singh 1-0-11-0
Abhimanyu Mithun 5-0-33-0
10.6
Harbhajan to NT Paranavitana, no run

short and wide outside Paranavitana's off stump and he misses the cut close to his body

Best performances - batters
Spike Graph
Wagon Zone
NT Paranavitana
111 runs (233)
12 fours0 six
Productive shot
leg glance
25 runs
1 four0 six
Control
85%
V Sehwag
109 runs (118)
19 fours1 six
Productive shot
off side drive on front foot
39 runs
9 fours0 six
Control
87%
Best performances - bowlers
SL Malinga
O
17
M
2
R
50
W
5
ECO
2.94
M Muralitharan
O
17
M
1
R
63
W
5
ECO
3.7
Match details
Galle International Stadium
TossSri Lanka, elected to bat first
Series
Season2010
Player Of The Match
Series resultSri Lanka led the 3-match series 1-0
Match numberTest no. 1964
Hours of play (local time)10am start, Lunch 12.00-12.40, Tea 14.40-15.00, Close 17.00
Match days18,19,20,21,22 July 2010 - day (5-day match)
Test debut
Umpires
TV Umpire
Reserve Umpire
Match Referee