Cricket @ Sri Lanka Tour

TWICE UPON A TIME     PARANAVITANA, SANGA SCORE TONS AGAIN AS TOOTHLESS INDIA SUFFER Colombo: India lacked a bowling 'attack' on Monday. What they had can at best be described as a bowling 'defense'. As MS Dhoni lost the toss for the seventh time in succession in a Test match, an action replay of the first day at Galle played out at the SSC. There, rain had ensured a truncated first day's playOn the first day of the second Test, there was no such luck.         In the morning, they alarmingly found themselves without Gautam Gambhir, who was nursing a niggle, and Yuvraj Singh because of flu, but as expected they went in with an unchanged bowling lineup. their fortunes on the field too remained unchanged. By the ninth over, they had deep points for Ishant Sharma and Abhimanyu Mithun, and by the 20th deep midwicket and long-on had been posted for the spinners. The deep defesive fields were a feature throught the day. It was hardly classic Test match stuff, and the Lankians went promptly into deja vumode, ending the day with the doughty but unspectacular Paranavitana (100;10x4,1x6) and his illustrious skipper Kumar Sangakkara (batting on 13; 225; 15x4,) notchingu their second successive centuries of the series and adding 174 for the second wicket.         Harbhajan Singh again went wicketless, Ishant again tended to bowl short or wide. The run-fest was like a dreary soap opera rerun with endless episode you could afford to miss. You could have sauntered out of the ground, driven around Colmbo and come back to see Harbhajan still landing it outside off to Sanga. But India's problems may have just begun. As Lanka ended the day at 312/2, at the crease along with Sangakkara was Mahela Jayawardene, the same pair which notched up a 624-run stand against South Africa here in 2006.          India will be praying there won't be a reprise of similar epic proportions, but their bowling lineup has rarely been so impotent over the past year or so. Harbhajan Singh, in particular, has struggled to deliver expected results after the departure of Kumble. In five Test matches this year, he has only 12 wickets from eight innings, at a staggering 49.58, with one five-for. Pragyan Ojha is a supporting role, yet he has five wickets from five innings in 2010, at a strike rate of 110.4 and an average which has now ballooned to 62.2.          On the flat pancake at the SSC, it was no surprise they failed to create enough chances and struggled against traditionally good players of spin. They were particularly clueless against Sangakkara, who started off by attacking Ojha before getting a tast for the seamers, who continued with their own travails in these conditions. Ishant and Mithun didn't get any bite off the wicket or swing, struggled often with their length and lacked the sheer pace or variation which could have proved penetrative here. Ishant, in particular, was too short early on.         The match, as it stands, is now Lanka's to lose. With no Malinga and Murali, though, and a revamped bowoling lineup comprising of Dammika Prasad, Dilhara Fernando, Ajantha Mendis, Angelo Mathews and debutant off-spinner Suraj Randiv, India might have their moments yet with the bat.