Sri Lanka gave themselves a minimum of 134 overs and an ample cushion of runs to try and register their first Test win in India, but the Ahmedabad pitch got deader and deader every passing minute
The Bulletin by Sidharth Monga19-Nov-2009
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were outGautam Gambhir didn’t give the bowlers any chances•AFP
Sri Lanka gave themselves a minimum of 135 overs and an ample cushion of runs to try and register their first Test win in India, but the Ahmedabad pitch got deader and deader with every passing minute. Gautam Gambhir got into long-innings mode, reminiscent of his match-saving effort in Napier earlier this year, but Chanaka Welegedara brought Sri Lanka right back with Rahul Dravid’s wicket 15 minutes before stumps.Sri Lanka seemed a little unsettled by a charmed innings from Virender Sehwag who survived his own ambitious mindset to score an aggressive half-century. The Sri Lankan fast bowlers failed to replicate the swing they got in the first innings, and apart from a few moments of indiscretion from Sehwag, it seemed they would spend the day without a wicket.Sehwag escaped three chances before his eventual dismissal in the final session. In the first over he edged a no-ball, in the second another edge flew between wicketkeeper and first slip. He went on to take a suicidal run off a back-foot punch straight to mid-on, and then cut and edge past slip in the last over before tea. For the while Sehwag stayed in the middle, India hardly resembled a side trying to save the match, scoring at five an over, but it did work in India’s favour. Kumar Sangakkara made the same mistake as MS Dhoni and set defensive fields too soon. Twenty-seven singles came in the 17 overs that Sehwag batted, and none of the bowlers could settle into any rhythm.In between, for a brief while approaching tea, Sehwag did tighten his game: he left balls outside off, defended with soft hands, looked to run singles and rotate strike. In other words, he started to play more like Gambhir, who resisted from playing too far outside off stump, kept the big shots out, and drove only when close to the pitch of the ball.Rangana Herath got Sehwag’s wicket to a slog-sweep, but both he and Muttiah Muralitharan failed to trouble Gambhir and Dravid. The ball turned, but slowly. Both Gambhir and Dravid looked to play as late as possible. Even if they did play back to a fullish delivery, there was enough time to recover. Every now and then, Gambhir would step out and drive from out of the rough, but wouldn’t give the ball any time to spin.During 15 overs of spin, they added 41, without giving any of the close-in fielders a chance. Sangakkara brought back to Dammika Prasad and Welegedera. Prasad beat Gambhir with late movement right away, and five overs later Dravid too poked outside off. Just before stumps Sri Lanka got lucky when Welegedera got Dravid with a late swinging delivery from round the stumps. The ball seemed to be missing leg.Nightwatchman Amit Mishra and Gambhir saw out the remaining 15 overs, without incident. The first half of the day, too, was without incident. India started by waiting, nay hoping, for a declaration from Sri Lanka, but the Jayawardenes accumulated ruthlessly, scoring at close to four an over, almost making sure Sri Lanka would not have to bat again. Along the way Prasanna went past 150 – his second Test century – Sri Lanka registered the highest total in India, Mahela reached 250 in the innings and 9000 Test runs, and their 351-run partnership was a new world record for sixth wicket.India took the new ball as soon as it was due but the batsmen weren’t troubled. Without taking risks, they kept getting boundaries, as the bowlers again failed to hit the same areas consistently. Zaheer Khan bowled off a shorter run, Ishant Sharma’s pace wasn’t up there – an edge that he induced when Prasanna was on 99 died on the keeper – and although the field setting suggested India wanted to stop the singles, the boundaries made up for it.The game stayed on auto-pilot until the declaration came 11.4 overs into the second session. India had spent more than a day without a wicket, and looked it. The Jayawardenes didn’t have to resort to frenetic hitting to go past their milestones. Mahela’s innings – although rarely challenged by India once he got in on the second evening – stood out for how he maintained focus and didn’t make an outright mistake until he finally missed an attempt at a big shot against Amit Mishra, who toiled for 58 overs for that lone success. A double-century came for Mishra, while Harbhajan fell just short, going for 189 in his 48.4 overs. India, while scoring 426 in their first innings, hit 59 fours and two sixes; Sri Lanka scored 71 fours and two sixes in 760. The statistic showed the difference in mindset of both teams when they came out to field.
