Murali and Mendis send India crashing to an innings defeat
Sri Lanka register their biggest Test win at the SSC:
By Ranjan Anandappa
CRICKET: Muttiah Muralitharan and his new mate Ajantha Mendis
was in concert for the first time in a Test match When they demolished
India in twin harness to give Sri Lanka an empathic innings and 239 run
win with more than a day to spare in the first Test match played at the
Sinhalese Sports grounds yesterday.
Congrats from President
 President Mahinda Rajapaksa congratulated
the Sri Lanka team on their convincing innings and 239-run
win over India in their first Test concluded at SSC grounds
yesterday.
He commended the outstanding bowling
feats of champion spinner Muttiah Muralitharan and new boy
from Sri Lanka Army Ajantha Mendis. In a special
congratulatory message to Sri Lanka captain Mahela
Jayawardene, the President has commended the brilliant
performance of the Sri Lanka team and has wished good luck
in the remaining matches of the home series against India.
Sri Lanka, which takes an early 1-0 lead
in the three-Test series against India, will now move on to
the second Test which is due to commence at the Galle
International Stadium on Thursday. |
Sri Lanka registered their biggest Test win at the SSC ,while
Muralitharan took his 21st ten wicket haul and also won the man of the
match award for the 19th occasion.
Muralitharan and Mendis shared 19 wickets out of the 20 that fell as
the Indian batsmen batted with exaggerated caution giving notice of long
intended stays at the wickets which was not to be.
It seemed that India had succumbed to nerves rather than their
ability as the spin duo mesmerised the Indian batsmen with some amazing
spin bowling on a pitch which assisted the spinners.
It was Muralitharan , again this time better supported by newcomer
Ajantha Mendis who broke through the Indian batting as they shared among
them a rich haul of wickets. Mendis is not an acute spinner of the ball
like Muralitharan, but has something mysterious about him as the Indian
batsmen had to keep on guessing time and again, as the Indians gave one
of their worst batting displays while following on in recent times.
Muralitharan had a match bag of (12 for 110) while debutant Ajantha
Mendis created history to be the first Sri Lankan bowler to have a match
bag of 8 for 132.
India who were dismissed for 223 in the first innings with a deficit
of 377 to make the Sri Lankans bat again started off on the long trek
around 11.45 am lacked any touch of authencity.
They were off to a deplorable start losing opener Virender Sehwag
with the scoreboard reading 25 when Muralitharan triggered the batting
debacle trapping Sehwag leg before wicket.
V.V S.Laxman the top scorer in the first innings with 56 off 118
balls inclusive of six fours was promoted at number 3 in view of
stabilising the batting was also trapped right in front in Mendis’
second spell and India lost one of their most reliable batsman under the
circumtances.
The general opinion of the SSC pitch was it would play easy to begin
with, but the wear and tear would before long convert it into a dream
for spin bowling, and how effectively the spin combination of
Muralitharan and Mendis worked.
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Sri Lankan cricketers Ajantha Mendis (on left) and teammate
Muttiah Muralitharan (on right) walk off the ground with
teammates at the conclusion of the Indian team second
innings on the fourth day of the first Test match between
India and Sri Lanka at The Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC)
Ground in Colombo on July 26, 2008. Sri Lanka won by an
innings and 239 runs with Muralitharan taking six wickets
for 26 runs and Mendis taking four wickets for 60 runs. AFP
|
Besides opener Gautham Gambhir who stuck there for a while scoring 43
facing 90 balls with four boundaries utilising 126 minutes, the rest
succumbed to the immense pressure inserted by the spinners and collapsed
like a proverbial pack of cards.
The three Indian top order batsmen namely Virender Sehwag, Sachin
Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid which was much expected from them were
dismissed under the new introductory review system when Sehwag was lbw,
Tendulkar caught by a diving Dilshan while sweeping and Dravid caught
off a bat-pad catch by Warnapura and the writing was on the wall for the
Indians.
India were at one stage 4 for 95 when Gambhir was stumped by Prasanna
Jayawardena for 43 , then with the scoreboard reading 103 Gangully ,
Dravid and Kartik departed in quick succession with Muralitharan and
Mendis sharing two and one wicket apieace.
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Sri Lankan wicketkeeper Prasana Jayawardane (R) stumps
Indian batsman Gautam Gambhir (L) during the Indian team
second innings on the fourth day of the first Test match
between India and Sri Lanka at The Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC)
Ground in Colombo on July 26, 2008. |
The penultimate day’s play began half an hour earlier to compensate
for the lost time due to bad light the previous day. India V.V.S. Laxman
and skipper Anil Kumble walked out still needing 241 runs to make Sri
Lanka bat for the second time. A lot depended on the pairs survival in
the first hour.
But Ajantha Mendis and Muthiah Muralitharan continued their torment
when Mendis struck first in the morning sending back Anil Kumble. He
played forward to Mendis and Dilshan held the ball appealing for a bat -
pad catch ,Kumble referred the decision to the third umpire Rudi
Koertzen who ruled him out leg before wicket.
Thereafter the Indians lost wickets in rapid succession facing the
ignominy of a follow on. Mendis who had captured the wicket of Rahul
Dravid went on to take three more wickets dismissing the determined
Laxman, Kumble and Zaheer Khan all leg before wickets to bring his tally
of four wickets while Muralitharan completed his five wicket haul for
the 64th occasion having caught Harbhajan Singh by Warnapura.
Finally India folded up facing 27.5 overs in the morning session
losing their last four wickets for 64 runs with a defect of 377 runs to
escape from an innings defeat. Muralitharan and Mendis had the
impressive figures of 5 for 84 and 4 for 72 in 29 and 27 overs
respectively.
Sri Lanka 1st innings 600-6 decl
INDIA - 1ST INNINGS
G. Gambhir c Samaraweera b Muralitharan 39
V. Sehwag c Warnapura b Kulasekara 25
R. Dravid b Mendis 14
S. Tendulkar b Muralitharan 27
S. Ganguly c Kulasekara b Muralitharan 23
V. Laxman b Mendis 56
D. Karthik c and b Muralitharan 9
A. Kumble lbw b Mendis 1
H. Singh c Warnapura b Muralitharan 9
Z. Khan lbw b Mendis 5
A. Sharma not out 13
EXTRAS (lb2) 2
TOTAL (for all out) 223
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-36 (Sehwag), 2-79 (Gambhir), 3-79 (Dravid), 4-123 (Tendulkar), 5-138 (Ganguly),
6-147 (Karthik), 7-170 (Kumble), 8-181 (Harbhajan), 9-188 (Zaheer), 10-223 (Laxman).
BOWLING: Vaas 5-0-23-0, Kulasekara 11-2-42-1, Mendis 27.5-5-72-4, Muralitharan 29-4-84-5.
INDIA - 2ND INNINGS
G. Gambhir st P. Jayawardene b Muralitharan 43
V. Sehwag lbw b Muralitharan 13
V. Laxman lbw b Mendis 21
S. Tendulkar c Dilshan b Muralitharan 12
R. Dravid c Warnapura b Mendis 10
S. Ganguly c Dilshan b Muralitharan 4
D. Karthik c M. Jayawardene b Muralitharan 0
A. Kumble b Muralitharan 12
H. Singh b Mendis 15
Z. Khan b Mendis 3
I. Sharma not out 5
TOTAL (for all out) 138
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-25 (Sehwag), 2-53 (Laxman), 3-82 (Tendulkar), 4-95 (Gambhir), 5-103 (Ganguly), 6-103 (Dravid),
7-103 (Karthik), 8-120 (Kumble), 9-133 (Zaheer), 10-138 (Harbhajan).
BOWLING: Vaas 5-0-27-0, Kulasekara 9-3-25-0, Mendis 18-3-60-4, Muralitharan 13-3-26-6.
Result: Sri Lanka win by an innings and 239 runs |
