Lanka shackle India into strokeless submission

Opening the day 278 runs behind the Lankans, Indians closed out the third evening at 293 for four, still 78 runs short on first innings.

It was as much a reflection of the pressures that preyed on Indian minds — what with the 14 for the second Test to be announced tomorrow — as it was an exhibition of the tactical acumen of Ranatunga.

There was a buzz later in the Indian camp about the negative leg and middle stump line of the Lankans. But with their first innings total falling short of expectations, Ranatunga’s first objective would have been to deny the Indian batsmen a free run. The onus, then, was on India to get going if their basic objective here was to win the match. Anyway, it was a painful experience for the audience to watch some of the best batsman in the world slip so easily into the elaborate trap that the Lankans laid out.

The run graph flickered around two per over throughout the day, raising faint visions of a final stalemate. And, except for rare signs of aggression — mostly when offies Muttiah Muralitharan and Kumara Dharmasena deviated towards the off stump — the Indians seemed reluctant to alter that impression. The sight of Sachin Tendulkar spending a little more than two hours at the crease to carve out 23 runs off 96 balls summed up the Indian effort best.

All this while, Ranatunga kept tossing the ball to his spinners, who stuck to the general scheme diligently. The manner in which Ranatunga kept fine-tuning his plan, it was almost as if he had converted the lush outfield into a chess board.

The skipper himself stood at silly mid-on almost throughout Rahul Dravid’s (34) stint in the middle, even as his bowlers stuck to the leg stump plan. The `Wall’ finally caved in and he went for an ungainly heave against Sanath Jayasuriya, only to give Ranatunga the pleasure of completing a smart catch — his back to the batsman.

Against such a dull backdrop, it was the scarred veteran Sidhu who got the crowd in good humour with sudden spurts of attacking strokeplay. There were 14 forceful boundaries in his 372-ball effort and a couple of sixes that came from that patent lofted on-drive.

There was too much at stake for Sidhu here, what with his place in the one-day side already in jeopardy. Yet, the sheer focus he displayed in an effort that spanned almost 10 hours was remarkable. And the 34-year-old — one of the seniormost members of the side alongwith Mohammed Azharuddin — can now be safe in the knowledge that he has booked his place in the side, atleast for the next match.

Even as the national selectors, present in full strength today, soaked in Sidhu’s innings, they would not have missed the fact that the first Indian wicket fell only after 120 runs. It was India’s first century partnership for the opening wicket in 19 Tests and the second between Sidhu and Mongia in that position. Will this statistical nugget play a role in determining the team for the second Test ? Hopefully, such questions would not prey on Azharuddin (23) and Saurav Ganguly (7), who carry Indian hopes into the fourth morning of this Test.SCOREBOARD

SRI LANKA (1st innings): 369

INDIA (1st innings): Nayan Mongia b Muralitharan (239m, 182b, 7×4, 1×6) 57, Navjot Singh Sidhu run out (476m, 372b, 14×4, 2×6) 131, Rahul Dravid c Ranatunga b Jayasuriya (149m, 117b, 4×4) 34, Sachin Tendulkar c Dharmasena b Jayasuriya (129m, 93b, 2×4) 23, Mohammed Azharuddin batting (88m, 65b 3×4) 23, Saurav Ganguly batting (43m, 32b, 1×4) 7. Extras: (b 12, lb 2, nb 2, w 2): 18. Total: (four wickets, 566m, 143 overs) 293

Fall of wickets: 1-120 (Mongia), 2-214 (Dravid), 3-259 (Sidhu), 4-274 (Tendulkar)

Bowling: Vaas 19-7-42-0, Sajeewa de Silva 17-3-45-0, Dharmasena 26-9-43-0, Muralitharan 51-24-90-1, Jayasuriya 30-9-59-2