When wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik failed to latch on to a snick from Mahela Jayawardene, with the batsman on 93, the bowler Anil Kumble just turned back and let off a cry of anguish. This was a repeat of a similar miss by Karthik when Jayawardene was on 53. At some point on a day when cricket made some ‘virtual’ history — with three referrals and India on the wrong end of all of them — Kumble knew he and his team mates were on the receiving end of a very real hiding.The day saw Jayawardene scoring his ninth century at the SSC to be on par with Sir Donald Bradman, who had a similar feat at MCG. Besides Jayawardene’s innings of 136, two other batsmen scored centuries as Sri Lanka all but ensured they wouldn’t be on the losing end of the opening Test of the series here. With the score reading 422/4 at the end of the day’s play and rain forecasted for the coming days, even if India launch a counter attack when they come to bat, there wouldn’t be enough time on hand to turn the tables on the hosts. A draw or an Indian defeat seem like the two possible outcomes of this Test match.No flash in the panWith Malinda Warnapura (115) and Thilan Samaraweera (111 not out), the Lankans had several positives on Day Two. For a team who have historically banked on their twin peaks — Jayawardene and Sangakkara in this team took the baton from Arjuna Ranatunga and Aravinda de Silva — the emergence of Warnapura and Samaraweera comes as a pleasant surprise. The two lesser-known Sri Lankan players had scored centuries on the previous tour to West Indies and after these performances against India they have proved that the Caribbean high wasn’t a flash in the pan.While batsmen relished playing on the placid SSC track, it was a nightmare for the Indian bowlers. And the dropped catches just added to their woes. New ball bowlers Ishant Sharma and Zaheer Khan had their moments at the start of the day when the wicket had some life, and later in fading light when they got the second new ball in their hands. It was only a magic ball by Ishant that saw Jayawardene finally play his first false shot of the day. The perfectly pitched ball moved away late to induce an edge to Karthik, who could finally afford to smile. If not for that ball, India would have been in deeper trouble with the mood Jayawardene looked to be in.A hard’s day toilConsidering the track and the missed catches, it wouldn’t be fair to pass judgement on the Indian bowlers, though. Spinners Kumble and Harbhajan had a hard day’s toil. The offie looked threatening when he looped the ball and it was one such delivery that got rid of Warnapura, the batsman edging to Dravid to slips where he took his second catch of the game. With no bounce on the wicket, Kumble banked on turn to get wickets, but the dropped catches saw him lose heart. As a last resort, Kumble threw the ball to part-time bowlers Sourav Ganguly and Virender Sehwag, but they too were without their golden arms today.Looking skywardsAfter such a day on field there will be voices that suggest that the Indians missed a trick by not going in with five bowlers. But looking at the track, it seems even that wouldn’t have worked. This isn’t questioning India’s bench strength, but they don’t quite have bowlers like Muttiah Muralitharan or Chaminda Vaas in the squad. If Jayawardene has cracked the code to score runs at the SSC, Murali and Vaas too have pleasant memories of this ground. Chances of the Indians looking skywards praying for rains in the coming days are bright.
