LANKANS DOUBLE TONNAGE
Sanga Scored 219 As Hosts Declare Innings After Amassing 642-4
colombo: With Sri Lanka at 628/3 just after tea, MS Dhoni, normally so quick behind the stumps, messed it up. Perhaps he wasn't expecting the opportunity, or may be the Indians had simply been numbed into submission by then. Till that point, Harbhajan singh, who bowls these days like he has the weight of the world on his shoulders, had hruled down 73 overs and three balls in the series without a wicket. Mahela Jayawardene, who went past a Bradman record and would probably score runs at the SSC even if he was asked to bat blind folded and one-handed, charged down the wicket to flick a delivery aimed at his legs.
He missed, Dhoni had to stretch to collect and by the time the skipper managed to whip off the balls, Jayawardene had scampered back. Harbhajan's reaction was one of despair, but if anyone in the team noticed they chose to ignore it. Daryl Harper, though, walked up to the bowler, put a friendly arm overhis shoulder and had a word. Even the umpire had started feeling sorry for the fielding team by them.
His next over, Harbhajan finally got a tired Jayawardene (174; 244b; 20x4, 1x6) and Lanka deigned to declare at 642/4. Every batsman who had come to the crease looked like scoring a cetury, but skipper Kumar Sangakkara's epic seventh double ton (219; 335b; 29x4), an attacking knock highlighted by a deservingly disdainful attitude to the bowlers, sucker-punched India as he put on 193 runs with Mahela.
Day two belonged to Sangakkara,only the fourth in history to amass seven doubles, and Jayawardene The latter played a more sedate role compared to his skipper but went past Bradman's record of most centuries at a Test ground, and Sangakkara upped his average to nearly 73 by neatly sweeping the spin, flicking or driving. There was a feast laid out, and the one of the world'shungriest batting pairs, now having put on 4798 runs together, weren't about to shy away. Sangakkara started by driving Abhimanyu Mithun twice to the boundary, targeted Mithun again neared the double, picked Ojha for four fours. It all seemed like a mere walk in the park, probably the most comfortable doubole of his career, He fatal moment of carelessness which induced an edge evoked furious reaction.
The Inidan graciously accepted whatever such scraps came their way. The talking point now is not whether they can bag 20 Lankan wickets in a Test on such flat pitches, but whether they can bag even 10 in an innings in this series. Such has been their story since the landed here. Even the tour game has been unsparing. At the SSC, they spent much of the time going thorugh the motions, bowling negative lines, and wishing for the fast-forward button to when their batsmen couyld hold centrestage, The 18 overs Sehwag (batting on 64; 63b, 12x4) and Murali Vijay batted offered hope.
These grounds are no strangers to mammoth secon-innings totals, with the Premadasa once having seen the aaLankan notching up 537. Without Murali and Malinga, the Lankans will be wary of an onslaught, especially with Sehwag in such imperious form that Ajantha Mendls' didn't even seem remotely threatening in his only over of the day. He was whirled past mid-on and poked to point for two boundaries, and the debutant, Suraj Randiv, will be feeling the nerves, Luckily for weary Indian fans, the run-feast at the SSC may not be over yet, though the Lankans seem in an impregnable position.
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