Records tumble as Mahela stars
It was a day when records tumbled as former captain Mahela Jayawardene hit his sixth Test double hundred to help Sri Lanka reach a strong 591 for five and a vital 165 run lead at stumps on the third day of the first Test Match against India here at the Sardar Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad.
On a mission to win their first Test in India, the Sri Lankan players showed total commitment to the cause giving the Indians just two wickets in the entire day as they went pass the opposition’s total and then took a comfortable lead.
Providing solid support to Jayawardene was wicketkeeper Prasanna Jayawardene, who was unbeaten on 84, looking good to post his second Test
hundred, as the pair added 216 runs for the sixth wicket, a Sri Lankan record against any country.
Resuming form his overnight score of 36, Jayawardene saw batting partner
Thilan Samaraweera depart for 70 with the total on 332 after a 138 run stand for the fourth wicket.
He then added 43 runs for the fifth wicket with Angelo Mathews (17) who
was wrongly ruled out caught bat pad in the last over before lunch.
After the two wickets in the first session, if India were looking to run through Sri Lanka’s inexperienced lower middle order, they were proved
wrong as the two Jayawardenes batted the two sessions giving their team a very good chance of creating history.
Jayawardene reached his 27th Test hundred after lunch going past Sir Gary Sobers as the tenth most century maker in Tests, a record he jointly holds with Rahul Dravid and Alan Border.
As Prasanna looked comfortable against the Indian bowling, the next aim
was to pile up Sri Lanka’s total and this Mahela did comfortably.
He showed remarkable application and plenty of patience as India adopted to bowl a negative line with Amit Mishra and Sachin Tendulkar at one stage coming round the wicket and bowling outside the right-hander’s leg-stump.
There were many milestones for Mahela as he posted his second double hundred this year. Many consider making a hundred in India as a hallmark of a great player and to prove that he was more than a great player he went onto post a double hundred.
When Sri Lanka last played a Test - against New Zealand at SSC in August -
Mahela had been dismissed in the 90s in both innings and he made amends for the let off three months back.
The 31-year-old was solid and purposeful and other than an outside edge
off Mishra falling short of Rahul Dravid at first slip, he looked in complete command.
He also joined his predecessor and successor - Marvan Atapattu and Kumar
Sangakkara - as the third highest double hundred maker in Test history.
Only Sir Don Bradman (12), Brian Lara (9) and Walter Hammond (7) have made more double hundreds than the three Sri Lankans and Pakistan’s Javed Miandad (6)
What the senior Jayawardene’s knock has done is to rule out defeat for Sri Lanka as they posted their highest total in India. Having started the day 151 runs behind, the tourists will be comfortable that they have extended their lead to 165 runs and will be looking to bat at least till lunch today.
India can take the new ball right away this morning and the first hour of the morning will prove to be crucial for them with the track generally providing assistance on the first hour.
..........Scoreboard
India 1st Innings 426 all out
Sri Lanka 1st Innings (overnight 275 for three)
T. Dilshan ct Dravid b Zaheer 112
T. Paranavithana ct Dhoni b Ishant 35
K. Sangakkara ct Tendulkar b Zaheer 31
M. Jayawardene not out 204
T. Samaraweera ct Yuvraj b Ishant 70
A. Mathews ct Gambhir b Harbhajan 17
P. Jayawardene not out 84
Extras: (b 5, lb 13, nb 17, w 3) 38
Total: for five wickets 591
Overs: 160
Fall of wickets: 1-74, 2-189, 3-194, 4-332, 5-375.
Bowling: Zaheer 30-4-93-2 (8 nb) (2 w), Ishant 28-0-108-2 (3nb) (1w), Harbhajan 39-3-151-1, Mishra 43-6-152-0 (6 nb), Yuvraj 13-1-49-0, Tendulkar 7-0-20-0.
To bat: Dammika Prasad, Rangana Herath, Chanaka Welagedara and Muttiah
Muralitharan.
Umpires: Tony Hill (NZ) and Darrel Harper (Aus)
Match Referee: Jeff Crowe (NZ)
No comments:
Post a Comment