The familiar phase where India squandered their advantage took place on the second morning of the first Test against Sri Lanka when they were at a comfortable position going into the second day with 385 for 6 on board. Rahul Dravid who completed 11,000 runs on day one was the first to go in the morning and India folded for only 426 after showing a lot of promise for scoring much more.
In the end, it was only Dravid, skipper Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh who were the chief catalysts for India’s total.
In reply, Sri Lanka started strongly with Tillakaratne Dilshan scoring a superb century to help the visitors finish the day at 275 for 3. Dilshan was dismissed for 112 while Thilan Samaraweera (batting on 45) and Mahela Jayawardene (on 36) were at the crease.
Indians will take heart from the fact that Zaheer Khan bowled with a lot of heart on a wicket that helped those who were ready to bend their back and was supremely supported by Harbhajan Singh and Amit Mishra though there did not literally through the opposition. The
Ishant Sharma who bagged a wicket was disappointing and sprayed the ball on all sides of the wicket and its no more aberration anymore. He just has not been in the right form for the highest form of the game. Agreed, he began beautifully in the 2008 Australia series picking up the wicket of Ricky Ponting four times but has faded over the last few months. The talent is not the question here but it’s the question of temperament. His pace has dropped and the confidence is just not there. It will be difficult for the captain to drop an asset to be dropped but its high time some other of the likes of Praveen Kumar who is a genuine swing bowler to be drafted into the Test XI.
Pink Floyd would have been happy with ‘The Wall” Rahul Dravid another brick in the wall by scoring the 11,000th run in the 89th over of the day’s play as he single-handedly guided India to a imposing total after a shocking start in the against Sri Lanka in Ahmedabad on Monday.
It was a day that started with the hosts winning the toss and electing to bat on a wicket that appeared juicy at the start in Ahmedabad. But MS Dhoni’s decision back-fired in the first session when Sri Lanka’s Chanaka Welegedara took three wickets in his first four overs and Dammika Prasad took one to reduce India to 32-4 within the first hour of play. With Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman back in the hut, it was left to Yuvraj Singh and ‘The Wall’ Rahul Dravid to do the repair job.
Dravid was surprisingly aggressive right from the word go, cutting, pulling and essaying those lovely cover drives with superb regularity. The Bengaluru boy hit 26 boundaries and a six in an unusually aggressive innings that saw him complete 11,000 Test runs with his final single of the day. When he had reached 105, Dravid surpassed retired former Australian captain Steve Waugh’s tally of 10,927 runs to become the fifth highest Test scorer behind Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Ricky Ponting and Allan Border.
He first added 125 for the fifth wicket with Yuvraj Singh who made a chanceless 68 and then partnered with Dhoni (110) who scored his second Test ton to take India to a wonderful 385 for 6 at stumps on the first day.
Speaking about the innings, Dravid said, “It’s one of my most fluent efforts in the last two-three years. My feet was moving well and I felt I was in control.“When we were 32 for four, the collapse for 76 against South Africa was at the back of our minds. But we knew it was just a question of having some partnerships going, hang in there till lunch and that’s what we did,” he said. “The partnership with Yuvraj steadied the innings in the first session and then with Mahi (M.S. Dhoni) the partnership set it up,” Dravid said.
But with India not making too much on the board and with Sri Lanka forging a strong reply, the match looks evenly poised going into the third day.
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