Will 7 be lucky for Sri Lanka?
by A. C. de Silva
CRICKET: Seven they say is lucky, and Sri Lanka's cricketers will no
doubt hope that luck will be on their side when they get to grips with
India this time in the three-Test series to be played in India with the
first Test to be played from November 16 to 20 in Ahmedabad.
Sri Lanka has made six visits to India since 1982, but the Lankans
have never been able to win a single Test match of the 14 played so far.
So, will Sri Lanka be lucky on their seventh visit to India?
Sri Lanka's skipper Kumar Sangakkara must surely be a determined
person to put the record somewhat in order so that luck and
opportunities will smile on them when the Test series will be played.
While Sangakkara will be keen on winning the first Test under his
captaincy in India on this tour, the Indian team led by Mahendra Singh
Dhoni will be equally keen to keep victory with them. So, a battle-royal
is bound to be on the card in the Test series. The Tests will be played
one after the other. The second Test will be from November 24 to 28 in
Kanpur, the third Test in Mumbai will be from December 2 to 6. The two
T20 Internationals will follow - December 9 at Nagpur and on December 12
in Mohali. Besides the Tests and two T20 Internationals, there will be
five one-day Internationals - on December 15 at Rajkot, December 18 at
Vishakapatnam, Dec. 21 at Cuttak, Dec. 24 at Kolkata and Dec. 27 in
Delhi. Though Sri Lanka has not won a Test against India in India the
Lankans have had the good fortune to hit a record score of 952 for 6
wickets against India at the Premadasa Stadium in August 1997. It was
Sanath Jayasuriya (340) and Roshan Mahanama (225) who were involved in a
world record partnership of 576 for the second wicket, while Aravinda de
Silva (126), Mahela Jayawardena (66) helped the Lankans on to that
record score. But before the Lankans came into the picture, it was India
all the way when they batted first. India made 537 for 8 wickets
declared with Sidhu making 111, Sachin Tendulkar 143 and Mohamad
Azhuruddin 126 batting well to swell the total. The match ended in a
draw as expected after the tall scoring by both teams. The record
partnership between Jayasuriya and Mahanama lasted around 9 years and in
July 2006 there was Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardena put on 624
runs against South Africa.
INDIA 1ST INNINGS
N. Mongia c Jayawardena b Pushpakumara 07
N. Sidhu c Kaluwitharana b Vaas 111
R. Dravid c and b Jayasuriya 69
Sachin Tendulkar c Jayawardena b Muralitharan 143
Mohammad Azhuruddin c and b Muralitharan 126
S. Ganguly c Mahanama b Jayasuriya 00
A. Kumble not out 27
C. Chauhan c Vaas b Jayasuriya 23
A. Kuruvilla c Atapattu b Pushpakumara 09
EXTRAS (B-10, NB-12) 22
TOTAL (for 8 wkts dec off 167.3overs, 675 mins) 537
DID NOT BAT: V. Prasad, N. Kulkarni
BOWLING: C. Vaas 23-4-80-1, R. Pushpakumara 19.3-2-97-2, Jayawardena
2-0-6-0, M. Muralitharan 65-9-174-2, Silva 39-3-122-0 (NB-7), Sanath
Jayasuriya 18-3-45-3 (NB-5), Atapattu 1-0-3-0. SRI LANKA 1ST INNINGS
S. T. Jayasuriya c Ganguly b Chauhan 340
M. S. Atapattu c Mongia b Kulkarni 26
R. S. Mahanama 1bw b Kumble 225
P. A. de Silva c Prasad b Ganguly 126
A. Ranatunga run out 86
D. P. M. Jayawardena c Kulkarni b Ganguly 66
R. S. Kaluwitharana not out 14
U. C. J. Vaas not out 11
EXTRAS (B-27, LB-10, W-7, NB-14) 58
TOTAL (for 6 wkts at stumps,271 overs,1,126 mins) 952
DID NOT BAT: K. R. Pushpakumara, M. Muralitharan, K. J. Silva
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-39, 2-615, 3-615, 4-790, 5-921, 6-924
BOWLING: Prasad 24-1-88-0 (W-4), Kuruvilla 14-2-74-0 (NB-4), Chauhan 78-8-276-1 (W-3, NB-5),
Kumble 72-7-223-1 (NB-5), Kulkarni 70-10-195-1, Ganguly 9-0-53-2, Tendulkar 2-1-2-0, Dravid 2-0-4-0.
MAN OF THE MATCH: S. T. Jayasuriya (Sri Lanka). |
