Of mountains and meandering streams

Test 2: India Sri Lanka at Kanpur

The second day's play was notable for one thing: the mountain of runs that India piled up and the lack of enterprise shown in the last two hours while doing so. India powered along, as the day progressed, with Rahul Dravid surviving a streaky inner-edge to fine-leg to post his 28th century. He looked good for at least another 100 more when he was freakishly run-out while backing up to Herath.

Before that Sachin Tendulkar batted as if he were on a minefield, pinching singles here and there, content to pat away any ball that was not on the pads. Eventually it occurred to even him that he may run out of time and not get to a century, about the only motivation that goads him into action these days, it seems. Ajanta Mendis got a gift in the process.

VVS Laxman and Yuvraj Singh were untroubled through their association. Laxman was dropped by Herath every early on (which led to Dravid's unfortunate run-out) and passive-aggressively coasted to another 50, followed soon after by Yuvraj. By then it was getting apparent that India was going to declare an hour after tea. Knowing that this deadline loomed, rather than force the pace and make as many runs as possible, all the Indian batsmen batted for time. Consequently, Sangakkara and Herath woke up to the possibility of taking wickets and the left-armer quickly picked up a 5-fer that he can now throw in the critic's face, completely overshadowing the fact that up until the point he took his first wicket his analysis read: 26-1-109-0, and the Indian score was 613 for 4. He ended with 5 for 121 and walked off to a hero's welcome.

Dilshan gifted Zaheek Khan with a wicket off the first ball. Fret not, Dilshan, you will get a second chance to make runs in a day or two. The rest of the day was not for the highlight reel, except for the sorry display by Harbhajan Singh. Don't let the 7-3-9-0 analysis fool you. About three quarter of those balls were fired in fast and flat on the middle-leg stump line. I am ready for Harbhajan to be sent back to the Ranji Trophy to regain his old loop. Luckily he has two more days to sort it out...okay three, technically speaking.

Sri Lanka needs to be patient but cannot afford to be defensive. Be on the lookout for runs, get closer and closer to 450 and some of the bowlers (and fielders) will start going through the motions and let you off. A triple century is achievable for a batsman willing to pace himself accordingly. Good luck.

One last note. The best thing that happened for India was getting all out. This way, in 3 days time, MS Dhoni will not have to hear about how he spent too long to declare or did not score enough runs, depending upon the outcome. By taking matters out of India's hands, Sri Lanka actually worsened their chances of winning the match and played into India's favor.