Lanka pip India at the post

"They (India) are not really our main rivals," said Sanath Jayasuriya.

If I didn't know different, I'd have thought that was Steve Waugh trying on a different accent.

The Lankan skipper though was probably going by recent history -- his team beat India three out of three the last time they met, in Sharjah.

The Premadasa this time produced a much better track -- hard and flat and well-rolled, and though it had more rough patches than you want to see, it wasn't half as alarming as the one India played its first game on.

Sanath Jayasuriya won the toss, and opted to bat, in keeping with the trend in this series thus far. India went in with two changes -- Badani was rested to bring in Amay Khurasia, and the injured Ashish Nehra made way for Debashish Mohanty.

Sri Lanka made it to 46/0 in 10 overs -- not a typically Lankan start in terms of run rate. The main reason for that was named Avishka Gunawardene -- while his captain seemed to be able to go run a ball without breaking into a sweat (despite an 88 per cent humidity), Gunawardene just couldn't seem to get his feet -- or the board -- moving. In the 9th over, the opener was in fact lucky when a hard slash at Zaheer Khan saw Sehwag at slip lunging to get both hands to it, only to let it go through.

As so often in recent games, it was the introduction of Harbhajan that turned things around for India. The offie now has a reputation, and that means star batsmen in opposition tend to view his entry to the crease as a signal to try and hit him out of it again. Jayasuriya tried, Harbhajan spotted it and speared one down leg, and Dighe had the bails off in a flash, to reduce Lanka to 48/1 in the 12th over.

In his next over, the offie changed tack and tossed one up above eye levelfor the batsman. Atapattu pushed blind, got the inside edge onto the pad and was walking back, caught at short square.

In the 15th over, it was Retinder's turn to join the party, a delivery outside off hustling through to take the faint edge on a Jayawardene cut, for Dighe to do very well, staying low to hold. Lanka, at the end of 15 overs, were in trouble at 60/3.

Gunawardene and Kaluwitharana began the process of turning it around, playing intelligently, stroking the ball around for singles and focussing on keeping the board ticking. Gunawardene had another slice of luck in the 23rd over when Retinder had him slashing a cut only for Yuvraj Singh at backward point to put down a relatively simple catch.

Lanka made it to 124/3 at the 30 over mark, and seemed to be regaining control. Gunawardene, into his 60s, began pushing for shots around this stage, though, and paid with his wicket in the 34th over. Virendra Sehwag, who in this game as in the last showed some skill and lots of nerve at the bowling crease, spotted his repeated attempts to make room, and pushed one through quick and fullish. Gunawardene stepped to leg, the ball hurried through the slash, and took out middle stump to set the Lankans back.

Misfortune for Sri Lanka didn't come singly. Kaluwitharana cut, Ganguly at point dived to make a great save, then whipped the ball back to the bowler's end and caught the impetuous Russel Arnold miles out of his crease. Lanka, at the end of 35, had made it to a precarious 148/5.

Kaluwitharana had been playing with patience right through (36/52) but in the 37th over, he aimed a huge drive at a Yuvraj Singh delivery spinning away from the right hander, got a faint nick, and yet again, Dighe did superbly well to take.

Ganguly by this point was fully on the attack. Harbhajan Singh was brought back, and again, as in the first game, the offie struck in his comeback over when he curved one through the air on a very full length, Chaminda Vaas sought to flick to the on side, was beaten by drift and curve through the air and trapped bang in front.

At 162/7 after 40, Lanka was reeling. Kumara Dharmasena, then Suresh Perera, authored a revival of sorts, getting Lanak to 221/9 in the allotted 50 overs -- far less than looked possible at the 10 over mark, but a considerable improvement on the 40 over position.

More to the point, it was a good, defensible total. For India, the standouts were Harbhajan, yet again outstanding with 10-1-29-3, and Yuvraj Singh, who bowled with control and some thought to turn in 10-1-40-2.

India began well with the surprise opening combo of Yuvraj and Khurasia, getting to 24/0 in 5. And then came the slide -- Yuvraj attempted to flick Perera off his pads and found square leg. Khurasia's bat came down a tad late on a defensive push to Perera in the 8th over, and was trapped bang in front. And Harbhajan Singh, sent out -- sometimes, you wish the Indian think tank wouldn't think so much -- to try and knock some runs off the total, hit one straight to mid off and suddenly, India at 30/3 seemed set to justify Jayasuriya's verdict.

Laxman and Ganguly played well within themselves and seemed to be mounting a fight back. For Lanka, it was Dilhara Fernando with the star turn. It was the Indians first look at this bowler, and they should have liked what they saw -- a nice easy no fuss run up, perfect balance on the gather and release, and the kind of immaculate control that makes up for relative lack of real speed. Fernando is a skiddy customer, coming off the deck quicker than he hits it, and that coupled with an ability to land it with millimetric precision makes him a handy bowler for the middle phase of an innings.

Fernando made one jump and seam away, Laxman reached and then pulled marginally out of the shot, the keeper appealed, Fernando joined in by way of afterthought, and the umpire was quick with the trigger finger.

From then on, Ganguly and Dravid controlled the game. The former seemed a lot happier in the middle, where he had to cope with seam and spin but not pace and swing. 73/4 in 20, 90/4 in 25, and when the 30th over came with no loss of wickets, India seemed to have taken the game back. More so, with Ganguly finding the range and timing on his long hits, and looking very assured against the spinners, of which Lanka had no less than four.

And then came the big mistake, as Russel Arnold fired one down on middle, Ganguly went for the lofted shot over midwicket, got the top edge through to square leg and ended a fine innings of 69 off 105.

Retinder Sodhi is a hustler, pure and simple. He chips and charges, nudges and races between wickets and occasionally winds up and lets fly. He came up with a nice cameo just when India needed one -- but also lost his wicket to the kind of mistake more experienced players wouldn't make. Muralitharan pushed one through quickish and on full length around off. The one shot you can't play to an offie who turns the ball as much as Murali does, and bowls the line just outside off, is the cut. Sodhi tried, the ball turned in, and took out the stumps.

From there on, it was run a ball. Sehwag and Dravid ran between wickets like their lives depended on it. But Sehwag then got ambitious on an attempt to loft Muralitharan over the rope -- you need to remember this ground has very very long boundaries -- and holed out to long on, to put the edge back into the game.

The 49th over produced high drama with Kaluwitharana missing two stumpings off Jayasuriya, first Dighe, then Dravid, benefitting. 12 off the last six balls required, and India found Dharmasena, firing them in full and fast and hard, impossible to get away. Six runs came in the over, but that was six too little, and India after two games, are 0 points on the board.

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