Prasad's mixed debut, and a frustrating partnership
Plays of the day for day one of the third Test between Sri Lanka and India, Colombo, August 8, 2008
![]()
| ||
Dammika Prasad's inclusion for this match had steadily gathered momentum since Galle, where Sri Lanka's new-ball pairing of Chaminda Vaas and Nuwan Kulasekara failed to stop India getting strong starts. His pace had been talked up all series, and Prasad duly took the new ball with the veteran Vaas. He ran in and bowled a seam-up delivery on the legs, around 139kph, and Gautam Gambhir clipped it away for four, clean as could be. Not the most promising of starts.
Prasad was picked for this Test for his ability to hit the deck and he did just that. Virender Sehwag came forward and drilled a straight drive back to the bowler, who crouched to stop the ball and was hit on the left wrist. After receiving treatment, Prasad removed Sehwag off the very next ball - one that straightened off a length and took the fatal edge. A far better way to hit the deck.
VVS Laxman is almost always easy on the eye. Left to steer a sinking ship on a relatively flat track, he unfurled his customary silken shots against Sri Lanka's spinners. None was better his treatment of a Muttiah Muralitharan offbreak. Laxman took two steps to reach the pitch of the delivery and whipped it past midwicket to the boundary.
Unfortunately for India, Laxman wasn't able to maintain his aggression or wristy touch. Three balls after essaying that lovely boundary, Laxman was done in - not for the first time - by a carom ball from Ajantha Mendis. It was pretty darn good to watch. Laxman was sucked forward into a defensive push across the line and left stranded by the delivery cutting away from him. He dragged his back foot just outside the crease and Prasanna Jayawardene, arguably the best wicketkeeper in the business, took care of the rest. Smart bowling topped by brilliant glove work; cricket really is about partnerships.
Jamie Alter is a staff writer at Cricinfo