Laxman and Tendulkar thwart Sri Lanka

Tea India 164 for 3 (Tendulkar 48*, Ganguly 14*) v Sri Lanka

Some wristy magic from VVS Laxman lit up an overcast Feroz Shah Kotla on the first day of the second Test at Delhi but Muttiah Muralitharan, possessing magical wrists himself, struck two vital blows and restored parity. India ground their way to 164 for 3 at tea with Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly, who both had large dollops of good fortune, at the crease.

Laxman, batting at No.3 after little more than a year, was fortunate at the top of his innings, with a close lbw shout turned down and a flashy inside edge eluding the stumps, but soon opened out with some delicious strokeplay. Wafting the bat like an artist's brush, he produced an array of shots - back slaps, punched drives, and flicked pushes - and effortlessly wrenched India out of a wobbly situation.

He was ably supported by the cautious Tendulkar, who equalled Sunil Gavaskar's tally of 125 appearances. He showed a few glimpses of brilliant strokeplay but was largely circumspect. A classical flick off Dilhara Fernando and a full-throttle cover-drive off Vaas - completing his follow-through while on his knees - brought back memories of his youth, but Sri Lanka will consider themselves unlucky with respect to the umpiring. When on 24, he was trapped in front by a Fernando incutter but the ball hitting bat soon after caused enough doubt for the umpire to rule in the batsman's favour. When on 38, he stretched forward to an offbreak from Murali, bowling round the wicket, and got away with a touch-and-go call.

Murali foxed all the batsmen with his variety and tempted Ganguly into indiscretion early in his innings. Unable to contain the urge to hit over the top, Ganguly danced down the track to a flighted offbreak but was comprehensively beaten by the drift and turn. Luckily for him, Kumar Sangakkara failed to collect the ball neatly.

Earlier, excessive dew on the ground meant that play started half an hour late but, despite the overcast conditions, India chose to bat first - probably guided by the fact that no team has chosen to field first in a Test at Feroz Shah Kotla. With Virender Sehwag ruled out owing to a fever, Rahul Dravid, who himself had just recovered from his illness, walked out to open the batting, the first time since November 2001.

Vaas gave Sri Lanka a near-perfect start by dismissing Gautam Gambhir, the local boy playing his first Test on his homeground, cheaply - trapping him on the crease with one that swung in late. Dravid was immaculate in reading the movement of the ball, punctuating his knock with five fours, but he was ocassionally hassled by the variery that Murali, who came on as early as the eighth over, displayed. Dravid was lucky to bring his bat down to keep out a doosra that kept low and despite a confident swept four, he was always kept guessing. He was undone by Murali's straighter one, pushing tentatively and offering a simple bat-pad chance to Jehan Mubarak at short leg.

Gautam Gambhir lbw b Vaas 2 (2 for 1)
Caught in the crease and trapped in front

Rahul Dravid c Mubarak b Muralitharan 24 (56 for 2)
Pushed tentatively, ball snicked bat and deflected off pad to short leg

VVS Laxman c Sangakkara b Muralitharan 69 (133 for 3)
Played back to a doosra; nick snapped up cleverly by the wicketkeeper