Pitch curator’s belief about the behavior of Motera pitch materialized on day three of the first Test between India and Sri Lanka. “It will be best for batting on day two and three,” he envisaged on the opening day. Day two wasn’t hunky-dory at all for India, and the islanders bagged most of the honors, with both bat and ball.
Mahela and Samaraweera began proceedings with what happened on the morning of day one and two at the back of their mind. They prioritized preservation of wickets for the first hour while Indians looked at completing 80 overs of the Lankan inning and take the new ball. It was taken just two balls into the 81st over but by then, the two batters had safely negotiated the early-morning threat posed by the pitch and completed their half centuries.
The fresh cherry did, in fact, do the trick and provided the much-needed breakthrough in the form of Samaraweera (70) who was brilliantly snapped up by Yuvraj Singh off Ishant Sharma at square leg. The Indian strategy to bounce Lankans out had worked so far, as Samaraweera became the third batsmen to be dismissed off short-pitched stuff. Promising all-rounder Angelo Mathews made his way to the wicket to give Mahela the support he needed. Mathews (17) didn’t really live up to his expectations though and became Harbhajan’s first victim of the series.
Sri Lanka’s score at this stage was 375/5, needing 51 more to overhaul the Indian total. Two two Jayawardenes – Mahela and Prasanna – were now on the crease. Another wicket here would have exposed the tail and that’s where India had a chance.
The Indian hopes kept disappearing into thin air as the two started piling on the runs. Where one Jayawardene (Mahela) has been difficult to control for India over the years, they now had two to deal with. The elegant former skipper completed his ton, fuelling thoughts of a substantial lead over the Indians.
The Jayawardenes remained unseparated at tea and enjoyed a 100–run partnership with an overall lead of 57 runs. Returning after tea, their sole objective was to see off the final session without giving Indians another wicket. It must be said that they didn’t get bogged down in doing so; rather kept playing their shots, hitting an odd boundary whenever the opportunity presented itself.
The fact that the Indians resorted to negative tactics of bowling outside the leg stump – courtesy Amit Mishra and Sachin Tendulkar – clearly showed how inept the Indian bowling effort had been, partly due to an unsporting wicket hugely loaded in the favor of batsmen.
The milestone of 500 was soon flashed on the scoreboard and the Indians were staring at the prospect of saving the Test. Mahela crossed 150 and looked to pile on the agony for Indians, like he has done many times before. Prasanna too got to his 50 and was doing justice with his place in the team. All attempts made by Dhoni to break the partnership remained futile. Sri Lanka was doing what they have done rarely in India and that’s scoring huge totals.
By the time the umpire lifted the bails, Sri Lanka had left the Indian total 165 runs behind and the chief architect of this effort, Mahela Jayawardene (204 not out), achieved another double hundred, along with his assistant Prasanna Jayawardene (84 not out) who was eyeing his second Test century. The day ended with Indian on the mat. It remains to be seen whether Sri Lanka can keep them on the mat or the Indian team has the wherewithal to bounce back from a hopeless situation.
JS on Cricket 