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| Sunday, 18 December 2005 |
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Sri Lanka had India in tight corner in inaugural Test by A. C. de Silva Sri Lanka has got into a 'must win' situation if they are to draw their three-Test series against India. The third Test between the two countries starts today (Sunday) in Kanpur. India lead the series 1-nil after the second Test win in New Delhi by 188 runs. The first Test at Chennai ended in a draw. Sri Lanka - India Test series started 23 years ago with the first one being played in Madras (now known as Chennai) from 17th September 1982. Though India had somewhat wrapped up the game when they ran up the massive score of 566 for 6 wickets declared on the first innings in the inaugural match in 1982, with centuries coming from skipper Sunil Gavaskar (155) and Sandeep Patel (114 not out) and a near century - 90 by Dilip Vengsarkar and 63 by Arun Lal finally the Lankans made their presence felt when they came fighting back into the game in the second innings. Sri Lanka didn't dare all that badly when they batted first and made 346 and in the second innings, made 394 with vice-captain Duleep Mendis calling the tune with twin centuries and Roy Dias too making good runs - 60 in the first innings and 97 in the second innings and the late Anura Ranasinghe too coming off with the bat in the second innings making 77 while Somachandra de Silva made 46 not out in the second innings, having made 40 in the first and setting the stage, for a challenging match. And a challenge it was! Though Sri Lanka's bowlers didn't impress in the first innings with India running up that huge score of over five hundred runs, the Lankan bowlers picked up courage in the second innings and had India on the ropes. India finally had to make 175 runs for a win in 145 minutes, but chasing runs on that final day, was not all that easy with Sri Lankan paceman Asantha de Mel striking it rich with a haul of 5 for 68, thus continuing the good work that he did in the first innings where he captured three wickets. India finally had a brush with defeat as they finally struggled to make 135 for 7 wickets at close of play. Though they somewhat ran riot with the Sri Lankan attack in the first innings when all their top order batsmen made sizeable scores, chasing runs in the final innings was something that was not their pound of flesh and they lost wickets at regular intervals with Asantha de Mel bowling his heart out. When Sri Lanka's Warnapura won the toss and batted, it was Indian skipper Sunil Gavaskar's ninth loss in-a-row for Gavaskar. He lost five to Keith Fletcher - the England captain at home in 1981-82 and three to Will- is in 1982 in England and then to Warnapura at Madras. This was the third occasion, when India was engaged in a one-Test series. The other two were against England in 1932 at Lord's and the Golden Jubilee Test at Bombay in 1979-80. India capped Arun Lal and Rakesh Shukla. They were the 159th and 160th players to represent India. Mendis, Dias sparkle When the Sri Lankans took first lease of the wicket, it was left for the start batsman Roy Dias and Duleep Mendis catch the spotlight. Dias entered the field first but he was overshadowed by Duleep Mendis who started to play his normal game and was not perturbed by the situation and played attractively. He reached his 100 with ease when on 93, he pulled Doshi for a four and then hoisted him for a six to mid-wicket to reach 103. He incidentally became the third Sri Lankan to make a century since the country gained Test status. Though he was out 2 runs later at 105, his third-wicket stand of 153 with Roy Dias took Sri Lanka out of the woods. His knock contained a six, a five and 17 fours. This partnership was Sri Lanka's second three-figure partnership in Tests, the first being 217 for the second wicket between Sidath Wettimuny and Roy Dias at Faisalabad against Pakistan early in 1982. Dias dropped by Kirmani off Kapil Dev before he opened his account, made a breezy 60, his fifth 50 plus score in as many Tests. Dias' role cannot be minimised. He allowed his more enterprising partner Mendis to go ahead as he held the forte sedately. His knock of 60 runs with the help of 10 fours had him occupying the crease for 143 minutes. However, that dropped catch by Kirmani before Dias had opened his account, turned out to be a bad miss as far as the Indians were concerned as both Mendis and Dias took control of the play. The partnership ended when Doshi has Dias caught by new boy Arun Lal and Mendis later was out to Doshi once again for 170, having faced 123 balls. Mendis earned the distinction of scoring a century on first appearance against India with this fist innings knock of 105, it was the third century for Sri Lanka, the other two being 157 by S. Wettimuny at Faisalabad and 109 by Dias at Lahore against Pakistan. He is the 29th batsman to register a hundred on first appearance against India. When Mendis hit a soaring six over long-on off Doshi to become the ninth batsman in the world to complete a century. The others were: Ken Barrington of England had done it twice, the other seven were: J. H. Edrich, Amiss (England), J. Darling and K. D. Walters (Australia), P. L. Winslow (South Africa), Harook Rashid (Pakistan) and Kapil Dev (India). Earlier Madan Lal had captured his 50th Test wicket when he had Sri Lanka skipper Warnapura caught by Yashpal Sharma. Dilip Doshi captured his 100th wicket when he had Arjuna Rantunge caught by Vengsarkar for 25. De Mel - 1st wicket To Sri Lanka's Asantha de mel went the honour of capturing India's first wicket, when he had Arun Lal bowled for 63. He also bagged first wicket against England (Cook) and Pakistan (Mansoor Akthar). India took up the challenge and skipper Sunil Gavaskar led the way with a century which was the fifth against Sri Lanka. The other four are : Haroon Rasid: 153 at karachi, Salim Mallik: 100 not out at Karachi; Moshin Khan: 129 at Lahore; and Zaheer Abbas: 134 at Lahore. India's batsmen continued the persecution of a somewhat weak Sri Lankan attack and at stumps on the third day, made 398 for 4 wickets in reply to Sri Lanka's 346. There was rain and play did not start till early afternoon, but India added 147 runs in 37 overs to their overnight total of 251. Though three hours play was lost due to rain, when play re-started, Sunil Gavaskar and D. B. Vengsarkar took the second-wicket partnership to 173 in 197 minutes. Gavaskar's 155 took him 400 minutes to compile and it contained 24 fours, a six off Somachandra de Silva before he was finally caught trying to hit another six. Ball change Perhaps for the first time in Test history, a new ball was taken after 500 runs had been scored off the first one. Sri Lanka captain claimed the new ball at 511 for 6 wickets after 121.4 overs. India's 566 for 6 wickets declared was the best by India in any Madras Test until then, improving on the 539 for 9 wickets declared against Pakistan in 1960,61 at Corporation Stadium. The highest total in an innings at Madras was 582 by the West Indians in 1948,49. Then came Sri Lanka's turn at the crease for the second time in the match and those two 'old war horses'-Duleep Mendis and Roy Dias Bolstered the batting again on the fourth day. Dias made a superb 97 and Mendis an unbeaten 59 not cut, their partnership being worth 110 runs in 92 minutes which enable Sri Lanka to finish the day on 179 for 3 wickets, requiring 11 runs more to make India bat again. Final day Came final day, and the match resumed with Sri Lanka making a determined effort and the Lankans were all out for 394 with vice-captain Duleep Mendis making it a memorable match for him reaching his second century. Mendis made 105 - the identical score he made in the first innings. Mendis and his erstwhile partner Roy Dias completed two century partnerships - 153 in the first innings and 110 in the second innings and it was the 12th instance of the same pair adding over 100 runs. Dias was unlucky to miss the century for the second time in five tests. There was also Anura Ranasinghe (77) now deceased and Somachandra de Silva (46) who made useful contributions in lower down the order. Mendis and Ranasinghe added 89 runs for the sixth wicket for Sri Lanka in the second innings total of 394. Mendis became the 30th batsman in the world to score a century in each innings. Mendis' performance provides the 35th instance of such a feat. Mendis joined those three batsmen who have achieved this feat in their first appearance. They are: E. Paynter, R. B. Simpson and L. G. Rowe (Rowe achieved the feat on his Test debut.) Mendis is the only batsman until then to score identical 105 in both innings. Kapil Dev bowled best for India in the second innings with 5 for 110 and Sri Lanka were all out for 394. So, when India had to make 175 to win the Test, it looked somewhat simple, but it did not turn out that way. There was Sri Lankan paceman Asantha de Mel who registered his best in a Test innings and captured 5 for 68. He earned the distinction of becoming the first Sri Lankan to capture five or more wickets against India and third bowler in the series (Doshi - 5 for 85, Kapil Dev 5 for 110, are the other two). India's first encounter with all the seven nations read thus: England at Lord's: England won by 158 runs; Australia at Brisbane: Aussies won by an innings and 226 runs; West Indies at Delhi: Drawn; Pakistan at Delhi: India won by an innings and 70 runs; New Zealand at Hyderabad: Drawn; Sri Lanka at Madras: Drawn. Sri Lanka : 346 (Roy Dias 60, Duleep Mendis 105, Arjuna Rantunge 25, Ranjan Madugalle 40, D. Somachandra de Silva 40; Madan Lal 2 for 53, Dilip Doshi 5 for 85) and 394 (Roy Dias 97, Duleep Mendis 105, Anura Ranasinghe 77, D. Somachandra de Silva 46 not out; Kapil Dev 5 for 110, Dilip Doshi 3 for 147). India : 566 for 6 wkts Dec (Sunil Gavaskar 155, Arun Lal 63, Dilip Vengsarkar 90, Sandeep Patil 114 not out, Kapil Dev 31, Madan Lal 37 not out; Asantha de Mel 3 wkts) and 135 for 7 wkts at close (Sandeep Patil 46, Kapil Dev 30, Yaspal Sharma 31 not out; Asantha de Mel 5 for 68). |
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