Tendulkar’s double-ton leads India’s run feast

COLOMBO: Star batsman Sachin Tendulkar hit 203 and Test debutant Suresh Raina made 120 as India bettered Sri Lanka’s run-spree in a high-scoring second cricket Test. India, kept on the field for the first two days during Sri Lanka’s massive 642 for four declared, responded by piling up 669 by stumps on the fourth day with one wicket still in hand.

With just 13 wickets having fallen on the placid wicket in four days, the batsman-dominated Test is heads for a draw with Sri Lanka enjoying a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

Tendulkar and Raina, who came together on the third afternoon with India on 241 for four and struggling to avoid their second successive follow-on, put on 256 runs for the fifth wicket. Tendulkar compiled his fifth double-century, adding another feather to a glorious 168-Test career marked by more runs (13,742) and hundreds (48) than any other batsman in history. The 37-year-old braved the stifling hot weather for more than eight hours to play a marathon innings studded with 23 boundaries and a six.

Tendulkar reached the 200-mark with a flick off Ajantha Mendis for two runs, earning warm applause from teammates and spectators alike. Meanwhile, left-handed Raina became the ninth Indian to score a century in his first Test innings, before holing out to short mid-wicket off Mendis.

Raina, just 23 and already a veteran of 98 one-day internationals, was awarded his Test cap only after Yuvraj Singh reported sick on the opening day of the match.

He hit two sixes and 12 boundaries, reaching his century with a fluent off-drive against seamer Dammika Prasad that raced to the fence.

Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (76) joined in the run feast after Raina’s departure, adding 95 for the sixth wicket with Tendulkar and 51 for the eighth with Abhimanyu Mithun (41).

It was left to part-time spinner Tillakaratne Dilshan to get rid of Tendulkar soon after tea as wicket-keeper Prasanna Jayawardene held onto a bat-pad catch. Dilshan then also dismissed Harbhajan Singh in the same over and later took a return catch off Dhoni to finish with three wickets.

Sri Lanka missed the wicket-taking abilities of the retired Muttiah Muralitharan and injured fast bowler Lasith Malinga as the young crop of bowlers failed to contain the Indians. Mendis finished with 4 for 157 from 54 overs, while off-spinner Suraj Randiv failed to add to his two wickets on the third day and returned with two for 212 in a marathon 64 overs.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 30^th, 2010.