India face innings defeat after Muralitharan bags five
Hosts Sri Lanka were well-placed to win the first Test against India after spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan wreaked havoc.
GALLE:
Hosts Sri Lanka were well-placed to win the first Test against India after spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan wreaked havoc in his final match. The world’s leading wicket-taker grabbed five for 63 in the first innings as India were forced to follow-on after being shot out for 276 on the fourth day after Sri Lanka declared at 520 for eight.
Fast-bowler Lasith Malinga then claimed three wickets to leave the tourists’ second innings tottering at 181 for five at stumps, still 63 runs away from avoiding an innings defeat. India, the top-ranked Test side, lost 12 wickets during the day on a wicket that took only slow turn at the Galle International Stadium.
Muralitharan, who dismissed Yuvraj Singh with the last ball of the day, will return for his final day in Test cricket on today two short of the 800-wicket mark as Sri Lanka press for the lead in the three-match series.
Batting superstar Sachin Tendulkar hit a defiant 84, sharing a third-wicket partnership of 119 with Rahul Dravid (44) after India were reduced to 42 for two. But Malinga, gaining appreciable reverse swing in the final hour, removed the veteran pair in the space of six deliveries to leave the hosts on top.
Dravid was caught at backward short-leg by Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara, while Tendulkar was trapped leg-before with a fiery yorker. Malinga had earlier removed Gautam Gambhir with the third delivery of the innings after dismissing the left-handed opener with the second ball in the first innings. Gambhir’s opening partner Virender Sehwag, who scored 109 in the first innings, hit a breezy 31 off 30 balls in the second before being superbly caught at gully by Mahela Jayawardene.
It was the 67th time the 38-year-old Muralitharan had claimed a five-for in a Test innings and is way ahead of second-placed Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne, who managed the feat on 37 occasions.
The off-spinner followed up the dismissal of Tendulkar for eight on Tuesday with four more scalps in the first innings.
Muralitharan broke a 74-run stand for the sixth wicket between Yuvraj and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (33) by bowling the Indian captain with a ball that turned in sharply. He then struck again in his next over, forcing Yuvraj (52) to edge a catch to first slip and returned after lunch to remove tailenders Pragyan Ojha and Abhimanyu Mithun.
Earlier, India lost the overnight pair of Sehwag and VVS Laxman to reckless batting within the first hour of play to slump from 140 for three on the third day to 178 for five.
Sehwag, starting the day on 85, reached his 20th Test century before he slashed at a wide ball from Welegedara, edging an easy catch to the lone slip.
Laxman had made 22 when he top-edged a hook off Malinga to Tillakaratne Dilshan at square-leg.
The entire second day’s play had been washed out and 22 overs were lost on the first day due to heavy rain as India eye their first Test-series win in Sri Lanka in 17 years.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 22nd, 2010.
Hosts Sri Lanka were well-placed to win the first Test against India after spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan wreaked havoc in his final match. The world’s leading wicket-taker grabbed five for 63 in the first innings as India were forced to follow-on after being shot out for 276 on the fourth day after Sri Lanka declared at 520 for eight.
Fast-bowler Lasith Malinga then claimed three wickets to leave the tourists’ second innings tottering at 181 for five at stumps, still 63 runs away from avoiding an innings defeat. India, the top-ranked Test side, lost 12 wickets during the day on a wicket that took only slow turn at the Galle International Stadium.
Muralitharan, who dismissed Yuvraj Singh with the last ball of the day, will return for his final day in Test cricket on today two short of the 800-wicket mark as Sri Lanka press for the lead in the three-match series.
Batting superstar Sachin Tendulkar hit a defiant 84, sharing a third-wicket partnership of 119 with Rahul Dravid (44) after India were reduced to 42 for two. But Malinga, gaining appreciable reverse swing in the final hour, removed the veteran pair in the space of six deliveries to leave the hosts on top.
Dravid was caught at backward short-leg by Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara, while Tendulkar was trapped leg-before with a fiery yorker. Malinga had earlier removed Gautam Gambhir with the third delivery of the innings after dismissing the left-handed opener with the second ball in the first innings. Gambhir’s opening partner Virender Sehwag, who scored 109 in the first innings, hit a breezy 31 off 30 balls in the second before being superbly caught at gully by Mahela Jayawardene.
It was the 67th time the 38-year-old Muralitharan had claimed a five-for in a Test innings and is way ahead of second-placed Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne, who managed the feat on 37 occasions.
The off-spinner followed up the dismissal of Tendulkar for eight on Tuesday with four more scalps in the first innings.
Muralitharan broke a 74-run stand for the sixth wicket between Yuvraj and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (33) by bowling the Indian captain with a ball that turned in sharply. He then struck again in his next over, forcing Yuvraj (52) to edge a catch to first slip and returned after lunch to remove tailenders Pragyan Ojha and Abhimanyu Mithun.
Earlier, India lost the overnight pair of Sehwag and VVS Laxman to reckless batting within the first hour of play to slump from 140 for three on the third day to 178 for five.
Sehwag, starting the day on 85, reached his 20th Test century before he slashed at a wide ball from Welegedara, edging an easy catch to the lone slip.
Laxman had made 22 when he top-edged a hook off Malinga to Tillakaratne Dilshan at square-leg.
The entire second day’s play had been washed out and 22 overs were lost on the first day due to heavy rain as India eye their first Test-series win in Sri Lanka in 17 years.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 22nd, 2010.