India pushed to the wall as Lanka pile up mammoth total

T V Sriram
Galle (Sri Lanka), Jul 20 (PTI) India were left with an
arduous task of batting their way to safety after losing three
key wickets in the rain-hit first cricket Test against Sri
Lanka who took firm control of the game by scoring an imposing
first innings total of 520 for 8 declared here on Tuesday.
The hosts relied on the the heroics of their tailenders
Rangana Herath (80 not out) and Lasith Malinga (64) to rattle
up a mammoth total before declaring their innings at tea and
shut a struggling India out of the game.
Herath and Malinga turned out to be the unlikely batting
heroes as the islanders recovered from a few early jolts and
had the visitors in trouble by the end of the day by
dismissing Gautam Gambhir (2), Rahul Dravid (18) and Sachin
Tendulkar (8).
Virender Sehwag (85), who payed with his usual
flamboyance, and VVS Laxman (18) ensured that there were no
more setbacks as they took the score to 140 for three at close
on the third day with the hosts still trailing by 380 runs.
With two days left in the match and the pitch at the
Galle International stadium expected to deteriorate, the
Indians need to bat out of their skin to ensure that Muttiah
Muralitharan's swansong Test ends in a draw.
The day clearly belonged to the hosts as they not only
consolidated their position by amassing a huge score but also
scalped three prized wickets.
While Gambhir perished in Malinga's first over, Dravid
was run out trying to go for a cheeky single. But the biggest
blow for the visitors came when Tendulkar was trapped leg
before by Muralitharan.
Earlier, the Indians managed to claw back into the game
to some extent in the pre-lunch session as they evicted
Tharanga Paranavitana (111), Thilan Samaraweera (0), Mahela
Jayawardene (48) and Angelo Mathews (41).
But the late order belligerence of Herath and Malinga
took the game completely away from the Indians.
After the second day was completely washed out, play
resumed today after an hour's delay with Sri Lanka at 256 for
two and the Indians managed to get a few quick wickets in the
opening session.
Ishant, who has been struggling for quite some time,
tasted his first success when he induced a nick from centurion
Paranavitana which went straight to wicketkeeper Dhoni.
Paranavitana (111) poked at the moving delivery off the
backfoot and the diving Indian skipper made no mistake.
Debutant Abhimanyu Mithun then struck another blow to the
Lankan line-up when he had new batsman Thilan Samaraweera (0)
trapped leg before.
The ball that slanted in late caught Samaraweera unawares
and the Hawkeye showed the it may have just kissed the top of
the middle stump.
Samaraweera had earlier got a reprieve when Rahul Dravid
dropped a sitter off the bowling of Mithun at first slip.
The outside edge looped up and carried straight into Dravid's
lap but failed to stick.
However, former Lankan skipper Jayawardene took a
measure of the Indian fast bowlers as he cut a Mithun bouncer
over the slip cordon for a boundary.
Jayawardene later got the benefit of the doubt when his
attempted sweep popped into Gautam Gambhir's hand at short
leg. The third umpire ruled that the ball had bounced before
carrying to Gambhir.
Dhoni decided to bring back the fast bowlers in pursuit
of further wickets as both Mathews and Jayawardene showed
little difficulty in playing the spinners.
Ishant was unlucky not to get early breakthroughs as he
troubled the batsmen but finally got Jayawardene (48) who
missed an attempted flick and was trapped leg before wicket.
Ishant then got Mathews as he nipped an away going
delivery to be neatly taken by Laxman at second slip.
The hosts tightened their grip on the match in the post
lunch session with Herath and Malinga proving quite a handful
for the tired Indian bowlers.
Malinga, who hit Pragyan Ojha for two sixes, celebrated
his maiden half century in Test cricket.
The gritty batsman finally fell when he scooped an
Abhimanyu Mithun delivery into the waiting hands of Harbhajan
at fine leg.
Earlier, in an apparent attempt to accelerate, newcomer
Prasanna Jayawardene hammered Harbajan Singh to the midwicket
for the first six of the match.
Making it an expensive over for Harbhajan, Prasanna swept
a flighted delivery on middle stump to the midwicket boundary.
It was left to Mithun to bring to an end the dangerous
looking batsman's innings.
Prasanna, who was looking to play it to the leg side
after moving across the stump, missed the ball and got hit on
his pads in the middle stump and the umpire had no hesitation
in declaring him LBW.
It was then Herath and Malinga who took centre stage with
a some blistering shots which entertained the sparse crowd at
the Galle International stadium.
After Malinga's dismissal, Muttiah Muralitharan walked in
for his last Test appearance and was accorded a grand welcome
with fireworks bursting all around.
In a touching gesture, the Indian players also greeted
Muralitharan with a guard of honour as he stepped out to bat.
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