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India all out for 642 / Sri Lanka 66-1:
Sri Lanka face tough task
Rahul Dravid struck his 28th century and Zaheer Khan picked a wicket
off the first ball as India tightened their grip on the second Test
against Sri Lanka here on Wednesday.
Dravid smashed 15 fours and a six in his 144-run knock to guide India
to an imposing 642 in their first innings, while Yuvraj Singh and
Venkatsai Laxman also joined in the run-feast with half-centuries.
In reply, Sri Lanka had reached 66-1 by close on the second day,
trailing India by 576 runs with nine wickets in hand. Tharanga
Paranavitana and captain Kumar Sangakkara were both unbeaten on 30 when
stumps were drawn for the day.
Sri Lanka’s innings began on a shaky note with in-form opener
Tillakaratne Dilshan edging left-arm fast bowler Zaheer to be caught by
debutant Pragyan Ojha at mid-on. But Paranavitana and Sangakkara saw off
some spirited bowling by India in fading light to ensure no further
setbacks.
Left-arm spinner Rangana Herath took 5-121 to help Sri Lanka bowl out
India shortly after tea but by then the hosts had ensured a huge
first-innings total. Laxman (63) hit five fours on the way to his 41st
Test half-century while Yuvraj cracked four boundaries and two sixes in
his 67-run knock to enthrall a strong 25,000 crowd at the Green Park
stadium.
The pair also shared 102 runs for the fifth wicket before Laxman was
caught by Dilshan off Herath. Herath struck again twice, bowling Indian
captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Harbhajan Singh through the gate to
bring some cheer to the Sri Lankan camp in the post-lunch session.
Dravid, who scored 177 in the drawn first Test at Ahmedabad, shared 94
runs for the third wicket with Sachin Tendulkar (40) to build on India’s
overnight score of 417-2.
He was the third Indian batsman to score a century after Gautam
Gambhir (167) and Virender Sehwag (131) put on 233 runs for the opening
wicket to lay the platform for a huge first innings total.
Dravid is now ninth in the list of all-time century makers,
surpassing Australia’s retired captain Allan Border and Sri Lankan
Mahela Jayawardene, who both have 27 centuries against their names.
Dravid also overtook Border (11,174) to become the fourth highest
Test scorer with 11,267 runs behind Tendulkar, West Indies’ Brian Lara
and Australian skipper Ricky Ponting. Sri Lanka, seeking their
first-ever win on Indian soil, tasted success early in the morning
session when Mendis foxed Tendulkar. Tendulkar, dropped on 30 by Dilshan,
lofted Mendis for a six but fell in the same over by holing out to
Thilan Samaraweera at mid-off.
KANPUR, AFP
SCORECARD
INDIA - 1ST INNINGS
(overnight 417-2):
G. Gambhir c and b Muralitharan 167
V. Sehwag c Dilshan b Muralitharan 131
R. Dravid run out 144
S. Tendulkar c Samaraweera b Mendis 40
V. Laxman c Dilshan b Herath 63
Y. Singh c Sangakkara b Mendis 67
M. Dhoni b Herath 04
H. Singh b Herath 05
Z. Khan c M. Jayawardene b Herath 01
S. Sreesanth lbw b Herath 00
P. Ojha not out 01
Extras: (lb11, b4, nb4) 19
Total (for all out, 154 overs) 642
Fall of wickets: 1-233, 2-370, 3-464, 4-511, 5-613, 6-619, 7-639, 8-641,
9-641, 10-642.
Bowling: Welegedara 26-4-103-0 (nb4), Mathews 17-2-49-0, Herath 33-2-121-5,
Mendis 38-3-162-2, Muralitharan 37-0-175-2, Dilshan 3-0-17-0.
SRI LANKA 1ST INNINGS
T. Dilshan c Ojha b Zaheer 00
T. Paranavitana not out 30
K. Sangakkara not out 30
Extras: (lb1, b4, nb1) 06
Total (for one wkt, 24 overs) 66
Fall of wicket: 1-0.
Bowling: Zaheer 7-3-14-1, Sreesanth 6-0-29-0, Harbhajan 7-3-9-0, Ojha 4-2-9-0 (nb1). |
