India v/s Australia 2nd Test Scorecard Day 3

Dear Readers,

For the scores of India v/s Australia 2nd Test Scorecard of Day 3, please click on the following link:

http://cricville.blogspot.com/2008/10/india-vs-australia-2nd-test-scorecard.html

Regards,

Sandesh Kumar

Ishant leads India to series levelling win

On a pitch and in a series where the fast bowlers have only been making up the numbers, a hostile and quick Ishant Sharma helped India seal an incredible comeback after they had slumped to their third-worst defeat ever in the first Test.

In the first session of the day, Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis had made sure India didn’t take their lead into the realms of the impregnable, but with Ishant bowling the way he did, the target of 307 stayed secure. Ishant got good support from Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh; the latter finished with his fifth ten-wicket haul.

Sri Lanka were attacked from a quarter they would have least expected hostilities from, and after having done well playing catch-up throughout the match, they finally fell short. The match was much closer than the 170-run margin indicated.

Ishant was accurate, he hit the bat hard, gave Dinesh Karthik some more difficulties behind the wicket, and most importantly, kept producing his special delivery repeatedly: the one that holds its line after having pitched on a length.

Ishant began with a wicket with the third ball he bowled, sending down a perfect right-armer’s ball to a left-hander, pitching it around leg and moving it away, making Malinda Warnapura play and edge. Zaheer, in the next over, produced a legcutter for Sangakkara similar to the one he did in the first Test, with similar results. And in his next over, Ishant got the biggest wicket of them all for India – Mahela Jayawardene, who looked to counterattack and cut straight to gully, where Rahul Dravid held on to a sharp chance. Dravid was exuberant at having taken the catch – he had dropped Michael Vandort in the first over, and had also been pushed out of the cordon.

Ishant and Zaheer then tightened the screws. Ishant, in particular, seemed to be bowling on a different pitch from the one that had been on display on the four previous days. At one point, the preceding 12.3 overs had cost India 11 runs and featured two huge lbw shouts, one catch off a no-ball, and most importantly, robust fast bowling. Harbhajan took advantage of that period, and trapped Vandort with an arm-ball in his first over.

But there was one final twist left in the match, and Ishant it was who pulled India out of a threatening situation. Thilan Samaraweera and Tillakaratne Dilshan had put together a swift 76-run stand, pulling Sri Lanka out of the shell they had played themselves into. Dilshan, in particular, hustled the bowling, briefly changing the texture of the game.

Ishant came up with a special over after tea, bowling at high pace, extracting extra bounce, and getting the ball to hold its line. After having beaten Dilshan twice, he finally got him to edge one, and it was all downhill for Sri Lanka after that.

Harbhajan took control of the situation then; both lower orders have, on this pitch, been hard pressed against quality spin bowling. Samaraweera, who scored a resolute half-century, could not do much about what happened at the other end. The last five wickets fell for 23 runs, Harbhajan taking three of them. When he got Mendis, he completed his ten-for, and a successful redemption after his recent misadventures.

Mendis, incidentally, had finished his first ten-wicket haul by taking Harbhajan’s wicket earlier in the day. That was the end of a collapse in which India lost their last five for 17 runs. India had started the day tentatively, but the overnight batsmen – VVS Laxman and Sourav Ganguly – kept the runs coming. They hadn’t yet played themselves in when Mendis nailed Laxman with another one of his special carrom balls – pitching within the stumps, breaking rapidly, and heading for off stump. Laxman’s pad intervened, but the umpire had no hesitation in sending him on his way.

Karthik came out aggressive, stepping out and hitting both Mendis and Murali for sixes, and also pulling out a reverse-sweep. He might even have had a hand in suggesting to Ganguly that he ask for a review when Ganguly was given lbw to one that seemed to be missing off stump. But just when it looked like the two might get too many, too fast, Murali pulled them back. Karthik, going for a third six, was beaten in the flight and caught in the deep. Ganguly was suckered out of the crease by a flighted, fiercely dipping delivery, and Prasanna Jayawardene’s quickness with the stumping made the dismissal look more even more comprehensive.

The rest contributed enough only for the so-called psychological advantage: when Karthik got out, India’s lead was 292; they finished on 306. Ishant, though, rendered the tussle in the first session superfluous.

That India came into the fourth day still alive had all to do with a near-solo effort by Virender Sehwag, who reached his fifth double-century in the first innings, and for the first time in his career scored a fifty in a match in which he had also scored a century. India, out of habit perhaps, managed to waste a fiery start from Sehwag, but he had done enough, as was proved when India went on to win only the third Test in which he had scored a century.

- About Cricket -

Sandesh Kumar Jaggi

India v/s Sri Lanka 2nd Test Scorecard

India in Sri Lanka Test Series – 2nd Test Sri Lanka v India

2008 season

Played at Galle International Stadium on 31 July, 1,2,3 August 2008 (5-day match) Result India won by 170 runs

	India 1st innings			R	M	B	4s	6s	SR
		G Gambhir	lbw b Mendis	56	134	103	8	0	54.36
		V Sehwag	not out	201	348	231	22	4	87.01
		R Dravid	c Warnapura b Mendis	2	7	6	0	0	33.33
		SR Tendulkar	lbw b Vaas	5	5	3	1	0	166.66
		SC Ganguly	c HAPW Jayawardene b Vaas	0	4	5	0	0	0.00
		VVS Laxman	c Samaraweera b Mendis	39	108	83	4	0	46.98
		KD Karthik	lbw b Mendis	7	13	11	0	0	63.63
		A Kumble	st HAPW Jayawardene b Muralitharan	4	42	32	0	0	12.50
		Harbhajan Singh	b Mendis	1	4	7	0	0	14.28
		Z Khan	c HAPW Jayawardene b Muralitharan	2	11	7	0	0	28.57
		I Sharma	lbw b Mendis	0	10	4	0	0	0.00
		Extras	(b 1, lb 4, w 7)	12
		Total	(all out; 82 overs; 348 mins)	329	(4.01 runs per over)

Fall of wickets1-167 (Gambhir, 31.5 ov), 2-173 (Dravid, 33.1 ov), 3-178 (Tendulkar, 34.1 ov), 4-178 (Ganguly, 34.6 ov), 5-278 (Laxman, 59.6 ov), 6-290 (Karthik, 63.5 ov), 7-317 (Kumble, 74.3 ov), 8-318 (Harbhajan Singh, 75.4 ov), 9-323 (Khan, 78.4 ov), 10-329 (Sharma, 81.6 ov)

	Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
	WPUJC Vaas	19	2	74	2	3.89	(1w)
	KMDN Kulasekara	8	1	40	0	5.00	(2w)
	BAW Mendis	28	1	117	6	4.17
	M Muralitharan	27	1	93	2	3.44

	Sri Lanka 1st innings			R	M	B	4s	6s	SR
		MG Vandort	c Dravid b Khan	4	2	3	1	0	133.33
		BSM Warnapura	c Gambhir b Harbhajan Singh	66	136	97	10	1	68.04
		KC Sangakkara	c & b Harbhajan Singh	68	142	120	9	0	56.66
		DPMD Jayawardene	c Karthik b Kumble	86	245	188	10	0	45.74
		TT Samaraweera	lbw b Harbhajan Singh	14	63	37	2	0	37.83
		TM Dilshan	c Gambhir b Harbhajan Singh	0	2	3	0	0	0.00
		HAPW Jayawardene	c Laxman b Harbhajan Singh	24	85	67	1	0	35.82
		WPUJC Vaas	c Harbhajan Singh b Kumble	1	5	4	0	0	25.00
		KMDN Kulasekara	not out	5	83	40	0	0	12.50
		BAW Mendis	lbw b Kumble	0	2	2	0	0	0.00
		M Muralitharan	c Ganguly b Harbhajan Singh	0	2	2	0	0	0.00
		Extras	(b 10, lb 12, nb 2)	24
		Total	(all out; 93.3 overs; 388 mins)	292	(3.12 runs per over)

Fall of wickets1-4 (Vandort, 0.3 ov), 2-137 (Warnapura, 34.5 ov), 3-144 (Sangakkara, 36.6 ov), 4-192 (Samaraweera, 52.3 ov), 5-192 (Dilshan, 52.6 ov), 6-250 (HAPW Jayawardene, 74.2 ov), 7-255 (Vaas, 75.2 ov), 8-291 (DPMD Jayawardene, 92.3 ov), 9-291 (Mendis, 92.5 ov), 10-292 (Muralitharan, 93.3 ov)

	Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
	Z Khan	9	1	51	1	5.66	(2nb)
	I Sharma	8	1	36	0	4.50
	A Kumble	36	7	81	3	2.25
	Harbhajan Singh	40.3	8	102	6	2.51

	India 2nd innings			R	M	B	4s	6s	SR
		G Gambhir	b Mendis	74	155	149	10	0	49.66
		V Sehwag	c Dilshan b Vaas	50	85	52	6	1	96.15
		R Dravid	lbw b Muralitharan	44	133	92	6	0	47.82
		SR Tendulkar	c DPMD Jayawardene b Vaas	31	54	42	5	0	73.80
		SC Ganguly	st HAPW Jayawardene b Muralitharan	16	76	45	1	0	35.55
		VVS Laxman	lbw b Mendis	13	29	15	1	0	86.66
		KD Karthik	c Sangakkara b Muralitharan	20	32	22	1	2	90.90
		A Kumble	lbw b Mendis	2	9	8	0	0	25.00
		Harbhajan Singh	c & b Mendis	11	33	12	1	0	91.66
		I Sharma	run out (Dilshan/HAPW Jayawardene)	0	3	1	0	0	0.00
		Z Khan	not out	1	24	20	0	0	5.00
		Extras	(lb 7)	7
		Total	(all out; 76.2 overs; 321 mins)	269	(3.52 runs per over)

Fall of wickets1-90 (Sehwag, 19.3 ov), 2-144 (Gambhir, 40.6 ov), 3-200 (Tendulkar, 54.5 ov), 4-200 (Dravid, 55.6 ov), 5-221 (Laxman, 62.3 ov), 6-252 (Karthik, 69.1 ov), 7-255 (Ganguly, 69.6 ov), 8-257 (Kumble, 70.5 ov), 9-257 (Sharma, 71.1 ov), 10-269 (Harbhajan Singh, 76.2 ov)

	Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
	WPUJC Vaas	13	4	32	2	2.46
	KMDN Kulasekara	5	0	31	0	6.20
	M Muralitharan	31	3	107	3	3.45
	BAW Mendis	27.2	4	92	4	3.36

	Sri Lanka 2nd innings (target: 307 runs)			R	M	B	4s	6s	SR
		MG Vandort	lbw b Harbhajan Singh	10	98	60	1	0	16.66
		BSM Warnapura	c Laxman b Sharma	0	7	3	0	0	0.00
		KC Sangakkara	c Laxman b Khan	1	5	3	0	0	33.33
		DPMD Jayawardene	c Dravid b Sharma	5	6	7	1	0	71.42
		TT Samaraweera	not out	67	217	126	8	0	53.17
		TM Dilshan	c Karthik b Sharma	38	70	47	5	0	80.85
		HAPW Jayawardene	c Ganguly b Harbhajan Singh	4	37	20	0	0	20.00
		WPUJC Vaas	lbw b Harbhajan Singh	0	10	7	0	0	0.00
		KMDN Kulasekara	c Sharma b Kumble	1	8	8	0	0	12.50
		BAW Mendis	c Kumble b Harbhajan Singh	2	4	3	0	0	66.66
		M Muralitharan	c & b Kumble	0	5	3	0	0	0.00
		Extras	(b 4, lb 2, nb 2)	8
		Total	(all out; 47.3 overs; 238 mins)	136	(2.86 runs per over)

Fall of wickets1-4 (Warnapura, 1.3 ov), 2-5 (Sangakkara, 2.2 ov), 3-10 (DPMD Jayawardene, 3.3 ov), 4-37 (Vandort, 19.6 ov), 5-113 (Dilshan, 35.5 ov), 6-130 (HAPW Jayawardene, 42.4 ov), 7-131 (Vaas, 44.2 ov), 8-132 (Kulasekara, 45.6 ov), 9-135 (Mendis, 46.4 ov), 10-136 (Muralitharan, 47.3 ov)

	Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
	Z Khan	8	1	18	1	2.25	(2nb)
	I Sharma	15	8	20	3	1.33
	A Kumble	10.3	3	41	2	3.90
	Harbhajan Singh	14	1	51	4	3.64

Toss India, who chose to bat first
Series 3-match series level 1-1

Player of the match V Sehwag (India)

Umpires MR Benson (England), BR Doctrove (West Indies) and RE Koertzen (South Africa)
TV umpires MR Benson (England) and MG Silva
Match referee AG Hurst (Australia)
Reserve umpire AG Dissanayake

Close of play
31 Jul day 1 – India 1st innings 214/4 (V Sehwag 128*, VVS Laxman 13*, 44.3 ov)
1 Aug day 2 – Sri Lanka 1st innings 215/5 (DPMD Jayawardene 46*, HAPW Jayawardene 5*, 61 ov)
2 Aug day 3 – India 2nd innings 200/4 (SC Ganguly 0*, VVS Laxman 0*, 56.4 ov)
3 Aug day 4 – Sri Lanka 2nd innings 136 (47.3 ov) – end of match

India in strong position after play stops for bad light

Heavy attrition was followed by heavy artillery in the first two sessions of play, and India walked away with the honours from both: Anil Kumble came up with a special two-wicket over ten minutes before lunch, ending a resolute period of defiance by Mahela Jayawardene; and Virender Sehwag hurt Sri Lanka with a characteristic fifty – his first in a match in which he had scored a century already. Despite Jayawardene’s calm innings, and the fall of Sehwag’s wicket against the run of play, India looked like moving towards a comfortable lead on a pitch that should be at its worst in the fourth innings.

After India had secured a 37-run lead in the first innings, Sehwag continued from where he had left: hitting the first ball he faced for a boundary. Nuwan Kulasekara got a repeat dose four times in his four overs. Muttiah Muralitharan, introduced in the sixth over, was swept for four in his first over and a six in his second. Ajantha Mendis, brought on in the 17th over – the latest he has been introduced in his two Tests so far – was cut for a four in his second over. Only Chaminda Vaas, who was faced mostly by Gautam Gambhir, escaped the treatment. And finally, when Sehwag thrashed a wide ball from Vaas towards extra cover, Tillakaratne Dilshan held on to a special catch: it was fast, it was high, and Dilshan was at short cover.

Gambhir, meanwhile, who had made a slow start, quietly took the front seat: he had scored two runs off 20 when Sehwag had 22 off 15, but when Sehwag got out for 50, Gambhir had 39 off 65. His handling of Murali was exceptional: no more getting suckered out of the crease, he was almost always right to the pitch of the ball. He slog-swept Murali, cover-drove him, and then charged him straight down to reach his second fifty of the match – another first, as with Sehwag.

The first session was slow by contrast, but just as intense and gripping as the others, and perhaps much more crucial. Almost every over – before Mahela started farming strike following a double-strike – featured a loud shout, an edge that fell short, or a sharp spinning delivery that missed everything. Kumble and Harbhajan bowled 24 successive overs in tandem, and but for a three-over spell by Ishant Sharma in the final session yesterday, bowled 68 overs at a stretch. Harbhajan took his unbroken spell to 37 overs, and after he was finally taken off, returned immediately to bowl from the other end.

Jayawardene, despite back-to-back wickets for Kumble and Harbhajan, kept Sri Lanka in the game. He was unaffected by the spinning ball, the variations in the bowling, and all else that happened around him. There were no free runs on offer; but he was assured enough to not try to hit himself out of the situation. He managed a total of five boundaries in the session – Malinda Warnapura had hit four in one over yesterday. And once Prasanna and Vaas fell in consecutive overs, two things happened for Sri Lanka that haven’t happened in tandem for India: Jayawardene farmed the strike adroitly; and Kulasekara gave solid support to his captain, facing the few deliveries he needed to with aplomb. In sharp contrast, in the first Test, Laxman failed to keep the strike to himself; in the second, when Virender Sehwag farmed it, he got zero support from the tail.

The only quarter Sri Lanka received from India came from the close-in fielding. Gambhir, who let a half-chance go yesterday, couldn’t hold on to a similar offering from Prasanna early in the day. And when Jayawardene, anxious to shield Kulasekara, went for an unwise single off the last ball of the 79th over, Gambhir – at short square leg – failed to gather the ball as it came off a slightly bad bounce.

In keeping with the narrative of the match till then, just when Sri Lanka seemed to have got themselves the upper hand, another turnaround followed, with Kumble making his first impact of the series. Jayawardene, 14 short of a deserved century, edged Kumble to Dinesh Karthik, and the game was back in the balance. Although Jayawardene and Kulasekara frustrated India for 17.1 overs, India had managed to keep the partnership down to 36 runs. Kumble and Harbhajan then proceeded to remove the next two – taking the last three wickets in seven balls – to get the lead, which on this pitch will surely be bigger than the number it consists of.

- About Cricket -

Sandesh Kumar Jaggi

India v/s Sri Lanka 2nd Test Scorecard (Day 3)

India in Sri Lanka Test Series – 2nd Test Sri Lanka v India

2008 season

Played at Galle International Stadium on 31 July, 1,2

	India 1st innings			R	M	B	4s	6s	SR
		G Gambhir	lbw b Mendis	56	134	103	8	0	54.36
		V Sehwag	not out	201	348	231	22	4	87.01
		R Dravid	c Warnapura b Mendis	2	7	6	0	0	33.33
		SR Tendulkar	lbw b Vaas	5	5	3	1	0	166.66
		SC Ganguly	c HAPW Jayawardene b Vaas	0	4	5	0	0	0.00
		VVS Laxman	c Samaraweera b Mendis	39	108	83	4	0	46.98
		KD Karthik	lbw b Mendis	7	13	11	0	0	63.63
		A Kumble	st HAPW Jayawardene b Muralitharan	4	42	32	0	0	12.50
		Harbhajan Singh	b Mendis	1	4	7	0	0	14.28
		Z Khan	c HAPW Jayawardene b Muralitharan	2	11	7	0	0	28.57
		I Sharma	lbw b Mendis	0	10	4	0	0	0.00
		Extras	(b 1, lb 4, w 7)	12
		Total	(all out; 82 overs; 348 mins)	329	(4.01 runs per over)

Fall of wickets1-167 (Gambhir, 31.5 ov), 2-173 (Dravid, 33.1 ov), 3-178 (Tendulkar, 34.1 ov), 4-178 (Ganguly, 34.6 ov), 5-278 (Laxman, 59.6 ov), 6-290 (Karthik, 63.5 ov), 7-317 (Kumble, 74.3 ov), 8-318 (Harbhajan Singh, 75.4 ov), 9-323 (Khan, 78.4 ov), 10-329 (Sharma, 81.6 ov)

	Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
	WPUJC Vaas	19	2	74	2	3.89	(1w)
	KMDN Kulasekara	8	1	40	0	5.00	(2w)
	BAW Mendis	28	1	117	6	4.17
	M Muralitharan	27	1	93	2	3.44

	Sri Lanka 1st innings			R	M	B	4s	6s	SR
		MG Vandort	c Dravid b Khan	4	2	3	1	0	133.33
		BSM Warnapura	c Gambhir b Harbhajan Singh	66	136	97	10	1	68.04
		KC Sangakkara	c & b Harbhajan Singh	68	142	120	9	0	56.66
		DPMD Jayawardene	c Karthik b Kumble	86	245	188	10	0	45.74
		TT Samaraweera	lbw b Harbhajan Singh	14	63	37	2	0	37.83
		TM Dilshan	c Gambhir b Harbhajan Singh	0	2	3	0	0	0.00
		HAPW Jayawardene	c Laxman b Harbhajan Singh	24	85	67	1	0	35.82
		WPUJC Vaas	c Harbhajan Singh b Kumble	1	5	4	0	0	25.00
		KMDN Kulasekara	not out	5	83	40	0	0	12.50
		BAW Mendis	lbw b Kumble	0	2	2	0	0	0.00
		M Muralitharan	c Ganguly b Harbhajan Singh	0	2	2	0	0	0.00
		Extras	(b 10, lb 12, nb 2)	24
		Total	(all out; 93.3 overs; 388 mins)	292	(3.12 runs per over)

Fall of wickets1-4 (Vandort, 0.3 ov), 2-137 (Warnapura, 34.5 ov), 3-144 (Sangakkara, 36.6 ov), 4-192 (Samaraweera, 52.3 ov), 5-192 (Dilshan, 52.6 ov), 6-250 (HAPW Jayawardene, 74.2 ov), 7-255 (Vaas, 75.2 ov), 8-291 (DPMD Jayawardene, 92.3 ov), 9-291 (Mendis, 92.5 ov), 10-292 (Muralitharan, 93.3 ov)

	Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
	Z Khan	9	1	51	1	5.66	(2nb)
	I Sharma	8	1	36	0	4.50
	A Kumble	36	7	81	3	2.25
	Harbhajan Singh	40.3	8	102	6	2.51

	India 2nd innings			R	M	B	4s	6s	SR
		G Gambhir	b Mendis	74	155	149	10	0	49.66
		V Sehwag	c Dilshan b Vaas	50	85	52	6	1	96.15
		R Dravid	lbw b Muralitharan	44	133	92	6	0	47.82
		SR Tendulkar	c DPMD Jayawardene b Vaas	31	54	42	5	0	73.80
		SC Ganguly	not out	0		5	0	0	0.00
		VVS Laxman	not out	0		0	0	0	-
		Extras	(lb 1)	1
		Total	(4 wickets; 56.4 overs)	200	(3.52 runs per over)

To bat KD Karthik, A Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Z Khan, I Sharma

Fall of wickets1-90 (Sehwag, 19.3 ov), 2-144 (Gambhir, 40.6 ov), 3-200 (Tendulkar, 54.5 ov), 4-200 (Dravid, 55.6 ov)

	Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
	WPUJC Vaas	13	4	32	2	2.46
	KMDN Kulasekara	5	0	31	0	6.20
	M Muralitharan	21	1	70	1	3.33
	BAW Mendis	17.4	3	66	1	3.73

Toss India, who chose to bat first

Player of the match tba

Umpires BR Doctrove (West Indies) and RE Koertzen (South Africa)
TV umpire MR Benson (England)
Match referee AG Hurst (Australia)
Reserve umpire AG Dissanayake

Close of play
day 1 – India 1st innings 214/4 (V Sehwag 128*, VVS Laxman 13*, 44.3 ov)
day 2 – Sri Lanka 1st innings 215/5 (DPMD Jayawardene 46*, HAPW Jayawardene 5*, 61 ov)
day 3 – India 2nd innings 200/4 (SC Ganguly 0*, VVS Laxman 0*, 56.4 ov)

- About Cricket -

Sandesh Kumar Jaggi