Thursday, July 31, 2008

Day 1 - A tale of two sides

It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.

The first day of the second Test match between India and Sri Lanka featured two divergent sessions of play separated by a 3 hour rain delay. At the end of the day, Sri Lanka came out slightly ahead. It is not often you can say that about a team that gives up 151 runs in the pre-lunch session of the first day of a Test without taking a wicket!

The day began with Kulasekara looking like he could take a wicket with at least one ball per over, while Chaminda Vaas did nothing but throw more meat for the vultures circling his career. Kulasekara should have had Gambhir when a routine catch to first slip became a difficult one with the wicket-keeper flying across like Superman and disturbing Sangakkara's concentration in the process. Gambhir used the chance wisely, walking down the wicket (Hayden-style) to Vaas and tacking both spinners with ease. At the other end Sehwag began in a quiet fashion. He still managed to canter along at almost a run a ball but there was a definite submissiveness to his batting for the first 10 overs.

In the 11th over Ajantha Mendis came on and Sehwag was transformed. Reading all of Mendis's variations off the pitch, as opposed to out of his hand, Sehwag's lack of footwork worked to his advantage as he rarely found his feet in a tangle. Six overs from Mendis bled 37 runs as Sehwag and Gambhir, in a seemingly pre-determined fashion, took to Mendis's flighted ones. Determined to show that they did not discriminate against the type of bowler, the Delhi duo also took Murali to the tune of 32 runs in his 6 overs.

At lunch, India were 151 for no loss. Sehwag was on 91 (yes, 91) and Gambhir on 50.

As I eagerly waited for the post-lunch session to begin I watched the dark clouds roll in on-screen and a heavy downpour began soon after. Many hours later the players came back on the field. Sehwag spent a scant 5 balls getting to his 100, smoting Vaas for a six and then a fearsome straight boundary. A 100 off just 87 balls on the first day of a Test! (Much more on him later).

In the very next over, Mendis made the breakthrough Sri Lanka wanted, trapping Gambhir plumb in front of the stumps. Even a challenge could not save Gambhir and he had to go.

The door had been nudged ajar and Vaas and Mendis flung it open in the next three overs. Dravid came in, scratched around without looking comfortable at all, and was snared by Mendis yet again. Tendulkar hit the first ball for four, took a single off the next, and perished off the third, missing an in-ducker from Vaas. Five balls later Ganguly guided a Vaas delivery towards first slip and the keeper, showing that his earlier lapse had not dented his confidence, flew across to take a one-handed grab while parallel to the ground. 167 for no loss was now 178 for 4 and the Sri Lankans had come roaring (pun intended) back!!

Murali and Mendis then subjected Laxman to a searching examination, while Sehwag merrily continued batting on, almost as if he was playing a different pitch and facing a different set of bowlers altogether. No further damage was inflicted as bad light brought an early end to the day's proceedings with India at 214 for 4, having frittered away the pre-lunch stranglehold on the game.

No prizes for guessing where I will be when the action resumes later today.

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