India completes century of Test wins

The Sri Lankan lower order delayed the inevitable a little, but India’s 100th Test victory still turned out to be one of the biggest in its long history. The innings and 144 runs verdict was completed in the second session to much merriment among the team on the fourth day of the second Test here.

With little doubt about the outcome of the match, the fielding side kept patient as Thilan Samaraweera blocked one end up, but the fall of last-man Chanaka Welegedara’s wicket ignited a quick race to grab the stumps.

The celebration was understandable considering that India had fought hard to draw the opening match in Ahmedabad and are now in contention to go atop the world ICC Test rankings which could come with another victory in the final match in Mumbai.

Needing six wickets to seal the win with Sri Lanka resuming at a pitiable 57 for four, India conceded 212 runs this morning due to stubborn partnerships for the sixth and ninth wickets, Prasanna Jayawardene (29) and Ajantha Mendis (27) fighting it out along with Samaraweera, who remained unbeaten on 78.

Prasanna was prised out by Harbhajan Singh with a peach of a delivery, the off-spinner’s perfect ball that pitched outside off stump at a good length and went through between bat and pad. On the other hand, It took part-timer Yuvraj Singh to remove Mendis when the frontline bowlers seemed uninspired to try very hard.

There was also Muttiah Muralitharan whose three fours and two sixes during that sprightly knock of 29 was not what was vital for his team, rather his prolific bowling which captain Kumar Sangakkara conceded was being missed.

“It is a concern that Murali is not among the wickets, but he is still the best bowler to have played the game and we have to back him to do well. We hope he delivers in the very next match,” said Sangakkara, referring to Murali’s indifferent form which has seen him finish with match hauls of three for 221 and two for 175 in the first two Tests.

“I thought we let the match go once we allowed India to score 600 plus runs and the early chance that Sehwag got (at zero) proved to be the difference between a score of 450 and what it eventually turned out to be,” he said, adding that eventually the toss proved crucial. Agreed his counterpart MS Dhoni, who felt only the first day was favourable for batsmen.

“The pitch only got slower and slower, the ball was keeping low and we also got a few run outs and inside-edged dismissals. Once you have a big stand like the one between Sehwag and Gambhir, it changes the whole complexion of the game and the opposition loses motivation,” said Dhoni, who was all praise for ‘man of the match’ Sreesanth.
“I thought Sreesanth bowled very well and his reverse-swing, for which we picked him up at this venue, helped us quite a bit. It was good to see him return in such fashion and also good to see Pragyan Ojha bowl so tight on debut,” said Dhoni. “I hope Sreesanth is able to control his emotions and continue to try as hard as he did here,” he added.