Aug

3

SL vs Ind: P-Sara Oval, 3rd test, Middle order puts the Lankans in Control

By Priyanka Mohanti - Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010   |   573 views   |  

Sri Lanka

After the blitzkrieg of runs in SSC in the last match, Sri-Lanka has delivered a clinical performance on the first day of the test at P-Sara Oval. It was however due to no fault of the Indian bowlers who bowled a tight line and length. Pragyan Ojha  was at his best with turning balls which the Sri-Lankans had an issue handling but the middle order provided the much needed semblance of stability to the team.

In this deciding test between India and Sri-Lanka, P-Sara Oval provides a perfect setting with a result very forthcoming. Sri-Lankans are striving to post an intimidating score to unsettle the Indians. Samaraweera was supported in turn by Jayawardene and Sangakkara in this quest. Indians on the other hand had a rather disappointing start by losing the toss. They have lost the toss 3 times in a row now but the prospects after day 1 look pretty favourable.

Ishant Sharma and Mithun kept up a steady slurry of well-directed balls and managed to entice the batsmen outside their crease. The Indians were missing their spin king, Harbhajan but he was more than compensated for by Pragyan Ojha’s variations with the ball which kept the explosive Sri-Lankan Batsmen at bay. His partner, Amit Mishra though, was a mess, dishing out 6 no-balls and was even warned by the standing umpires for over-stepping.

Opener Paranavitana was a complete failure in the deciding fixture, getting out early in the innings on the bowling of Ishant. A succession of partnerships in the middle order helped the Sri-Lankans maintain a steady run-flow. Dilshan was cautious in his approach, going after only those deliveries which deserved a spanking. Sangakkara had a field day against the spinners especially Mishra going for a lot of runs but was troubled by Mithun’s pace. He was dropped by Raina of Mithun’s bowling which he capitalised to the hilt by spanking Mithun all over the park and even hit his trademark bent knee shot which got him a 4 and the crowd something to cheer about.

Dilshan was eventually run-out by M-Vijay during the last moments prior to lunch and failed to make it to the 3 figure mark yet again. Samaraweera was the king of calm as he easily smashed Mishra to get 4 fours for his team and even cut Ishant past gully.

Sangakkara managed to survive 3 very pretty shaves against Ojha and unfortunately he was adjudged Lbw in Ojha’s bowling. Before bad light played spoil sport, Samaraweera and Mathews were in total control and the Indians would have a tough job of containing this assault on the 2nd day. Current Status: Sri-Lanka    : 293/4
(Samaraweera 65*, Jayawardene-56, Sangakkara-75)

Comments

Leave a Reply