Dilshan’s lonely battle can’t save Lanka’s lost cause

Even then, his innings of 65, although enough to help save the follow-on, was still short of the century needed to keep Sri Lanka in with a shout of squaring this series. By the close of Day Three, the game was all but over. Six sessions remain and it is going to need a lot of hard work to avoid a heavier defeat than last week’s at Kotla.

When his captain called on him to bowl, he did that too, trapping Sachin Tendulkar for 19 in the second innings — the third time that he has gone lbw in two Tests. Not that it is any longer a worry, as India have a wealth of batting, and it has manifested itself with the lower-order dishing out a few sledgehammer blows to the Sri Lankan psyche.

Dilshan was full of enterprise and touches of mischief in his strokeplay as he tucked the ball around the ground and into gaps. It is what Sri Lanka needed to lift a sagging morale. By the close on Tuesday night, and trailing by 479 runs, the thought was whether makeshift India captain Virender Sehwag would seriously think of a declaration.

It is the sort of indulgence he can allow himself as well, as Sri Lanka are not South Africa, and don’t have a Jacques Rudolph in their ranks to rescue a side with a brilliant century in an almost lost cause. But it is the type of performance that is needed to help the tourists save some face.

What it does show is that Sri Lanka are not producing quality batsmen to challenge those in possession, but that is the drift of the current side and selection policy that left one of the top batsmen, Russel Arnold behind.

If Dilshan was able to pick up runs and challenge the Indian bowlers, there should be others who can display the same application.

What has been perhaps alarming for the tourists is how their frontline spinner, Muttiah Muralitharan, has been made to look ordinary at times by even the lower-order Indian batsmen taking liberties. Ajit Agarkar was one who enjoyed such a moment as the Sri Lankans struggled to keep an interest of sorts in the game and on a pitch which is not only two-paced but where the ball often scuttles low as it takes turn.

Sri Lanka’s fast bowler Lasith Malinga was brave enough to admit that his plan in his first Test of this series has been to attack India’s opening batsmen Sehwag and Gautum Gambhir. At least he had some success with both batsmen falling to him in the first innings and Sehwag perishing with an audacious first-ball stroke in the second. While he feels that his pace is no different in India to that he bowls in Sri Lanka, he agrees that bowling to Indian batsmen is a challenge.