Sri Lanka ride on Sangakkara ton in keen contest
Kumar Sangakkara kept Sri Lanka's nose ahead with a patient century
The Bulletin by Sidharth Monga
09-Aug-2008
Sri Lanka 251 for 6 (Sangakkara 107*, Vaas 47, Zaheer 2-57,
Harbhajan 2-81) lead India 249 by 2 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
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It was good old-fashioned Test cricket on the second day - an examination of patience, will and
concentration - and Kumar Sangakkara kept Sri Lanka's nose ahead with a patient century. After Chaminda Vaas and Sangakkara had frustrated India in the first session, the Indian spinners fought back in the middle, drying up the runs and getting important
wickets as a result, but they were denied by a rock-solid Sangakkara, and to a
lesser extent by the inconsistent umpiring when it came to reviews.
Sangakkara's hundred competed with the review decision that went Thilan
Samaraweera's way as the talking point of the day. India had taken
two wickets, those of Vaas and Mahela Jayawardene, for four runs to reduce Sri Lanka
to 141 for 4, and should have made it three for 16 when Kumble's appeal for
an lbw against Samaraweera was rejected. In live time, it seemed there might
have been an inside edge before the ball hit pad, but the replays clearly showed the ball hit the pad first. The impact was 40% inside the mat - as it was with Rahul Dravid when he was given out yesterday - and the ball would have gone on to hit the middle stump three-fourths of the way up. For some reason, though, the original decision was upheld, which left the Indians irate. Sachin Tendulkar, who had injured his elbow earlier,
even signalled "out" from the dressing room. Samaraweera was on 5, then, and
went on to score 35, and more importantly, put together a 60-run partnership
with Sangakkara at a crucial juncture.
Nothing should take away from Sangakkara, though, who curbed his stroke-playing instincts, realising that his wicket would have been critical. He made a dicey start in the morning with an uppish boundary past a diving Rohit Sharma at point, but was determined to make amends for his ordinary series till then. Before this Test, his average in 2008 was close to 24. Twice in the previous Tests, Zaheer Khan had caught him in the crease, making him play at legcutters. This time, though, Sangakkara consciously
got on to the front foot, especially against Zaheer. Once he saw Zaheer off, there were no signs of struggle, and he was severe on anything loose.
A big chance arrived for India when Sangakkara, on 34 then, edged a faster one
from Kumble, but Rahul Dravid failed to latch on to what would have been a
spectacular slip catch. To rub salt in, Sangakkara came up with an exquisite
cover-drive off Harbhajan in the next over.
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After lunch India came out determined to make runs hard to get. In the first
session Sri Lanka had managed 100, while in the first 11 overs of the
second they got only 23. Harbhajan kept bowling outside off, while
Kumble - from round the stumps - got purchase from the pitch. Vaas, the
night-watchman who took ownership of the house in the first session, was
strangled: he survived two close calls in one Kumble over, and in
Harbhajan's next, lobbed an easy catch to extra cover, falling two runs
short of achieving the double of 3000 runs and 300 wickets. Harbhajan then
beat Jayawardene with an offbreak, and for once Jayawardene got the review
call wrong. He was given out lbw and that's how it stayed.
That was when Sangakkara dug deeper, not falling for India's tactics,
scoring 27 runs in the middle session. Bar one shot, he was a picture of
discipline. Even that shot was perhaps a statement - I can hit those, but I
don't want to. To a full, wide offbreak from Harbhajan - a similar one had
been called wide earlier - Sangakkara went down on one knee and swept to
midwicket for four. As he approached his 17th century, the Indians kept getting
meaner on him. In moving from 76 to 99, he took 56 balls, and hit only one boundary.
India suffered injury setbacks through the day. VVS Laxman had twisted his ankle in fielding practice before the start of the play and didn't take the field. After tea Ishant Sharma became the third casualty when he tumbled during his follow-though, not for the first time in the series, hurt his hip, and had to go off the field. Still, the bowlers put up a brave show overall. The
Harbhajan-Kumble duo worked well in the middle session, and Zaheer bowled a
testing spell after tea, giving away 21 runs in eight overs and eventually
getting Samaraweera out with a delivery that bounced and left the batsman.
Tillakaratne Dilshan, as usual, came out full of intent, and in partnership with
Sangakkara started to break free. For 12 overs at one point
towards stumps, Sri Lanka didn't score a boundary, getting only 27 runs, but
once Dilshan cut loose things began to look ominous for India. But Kumble,
unfortunate not to have got a wicket till then, struck at the right time
with a topspinner. Dilshan asked for the review, but he had been caught plumb. Given the tendency of lower orders to collapse dramatically, and also that Sri Lanka have to bat last, it would be brave to say that Sri Lanka have a clear advantage.
Sidharth Monga is a staff writer at Cricinfo