PSS Colombo, Sri Lanka: The pitch has started giving help to the bowlers. A result is on the cards. India could manage 11 runs lead in first innings due to a commendable 8th wicket partnership between Mithun and Mishra. It was Sehwag’s day.
Scorecard and Review of 1st Day
Scorecard and Review of 2nd Day
At first he completed his century and then struck double blow to SL in their 2nd innings, sending both openers to pavillion. The day saw completion of full quota of overs and SL finished the day on 45/2, leading by 34 runs. Malinga has claimed that a target of 275 runs is good to win. Can SL batsmen fulfill his wish on 4th day? Can India win the equaliser now? Lets wait for the 4th day for answers. Sehwag appears the best bet for India to find the answers of both questions now. After all he is now the best wicket-taker bowler. His 6 wickets has come in just 48 overs, as compared to the 7 wickets of Ishant taken in 86 overs.
Pre-Lunch Session
India started again on a poor note losing two early wickets of the settled batsmen. Malinga cleaned Tendulkar in the first over of the day. Sehwag survived initially against Randiv to complete his 21st century but then could not fight him out and was gone in the 6th over of the day. From there on Laxman and Raina settled down and it appeared that India will score big. Till lunch they took India to 282/4.
Post-Lunch Session
Again there was twist in the tale. Raina and Laxman scored the first century partnership of the match adding 105 runs for the 5th wicket. In the first hour both the batsmen were sent to pavillion. Later Dhoni failed again, but Mithun again played a memorable inning for a tailender. In the company of Amit Mishra he tortured the Sri Lankans.
Post-Tea Session
After the unlucky departure of Mithun, who again failed to score his first half-century despite scoring another total in 40s, remaining 2 wickets came tumbling. India, importantly managed 11 run lead.
SL started a fitting reply with good run rate. Ishant and Mithun were getting hammerred. Even Pragyan was not given respect. Dhoni played his trump card. Sehwag was brough and in his first two overs, he sent both the SL openers back putting SL on the backfoot. In the end, Sangakkara looking good for another big score returned unbeated in the company of night watchman Randiv with SL at 45/2.
Scorecard
SL 1st Innings 425 runs
3rd Day
Ind 1st Innings
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M Vijay c Mendis b Malinga 14
Sehwag c Welegedara b Randiv 109
Dravid lbw b Mathews 23
Tendulkar c †HAPW Jayawardene b Malinga 41
Laxman c DPMD Jayawardene b Mendis 56
Raina c Sangakkara b Mendis 62
Dhoni*†c †HAPW Jayawardene b Malinga 15
Mithun c DPMD Jayawardene b Randiv 46
Mishra c Dilshan b Randiv 40
Ishant c Paranavitana b Randiv 8
Pragyan not out 1
Extras (b 6, lb 6, w 1, nb 8) 21
Total (all out; 106.1 overs; 475 mins) 436 (4.10 runs per over)
Fall of wickets
1-49 (Vijay, 10.4 ov), 2-92 (Dravid, 17.4 ov), 3-183 (Tendulkar, 35.6 ov), 4-199 (Sehwag, 40.1 ov), 5-304 (Laxman, 70.5 ov), 6-321 (Raina, 74.4 ov), 7-350 (Dhoni, 81.2 ov), 8-414 (Mithun, 98.6 ov), 9-433 (Mishra, 104.2 ov), 10-436 (Sharma, 106.1 ov)
Bowlers
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Malinga 119/3
Welegedara 88/0
Mendis 109/2
Mathews 13/1
Randiv 80/4
Dilshan 15/0
SL 2nd Innings
-
Paranavitana c †Dhoni b Sehwag 16
Dilshan c Vijay b Sehwag 13
Sangakkara* not out 12
Randiv not out 0
Extras (lb 1, w 2, nb 1) 4
Total (2 wickets; 16 overs) 45 (2.81 runs per over)
Fall of wickets
1-32 (Paranavitana, 9.5 ov), 2-39 (Dilshan, 11.6 ov)
Bowler
Sehwag 11/2
Test Statistics
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1. Sangakkara became the fastest to reach 8000 runs, in 151 innings.
2. Malinga became the 3rd SL bowler, after Murali and Vaas, to take 100 test wickets.
3. Sehwag completed his 21st century.
4. Amit Mishra and Abhimanyu Mithun scored their highest total in a test innings.
5. Abhimanyu Mithun completed 100 runs only in his 4th innings.
6. Sehwag became the second fastest to reach 7000 runs in Test Matches after Wally Hammond, in terms of innings. This is his 134th innings.
7. Sehwag shares the record for fastest 7000 runs in Number of Test Matches now with Wally Hammond. He is playing his 79th Test match.
8. With his score of 99, he missed his 5th consecutive test century. Now, he can score 5 century in 6 test matches tomorrow. He already has 20 century to his name.
9. Samaraweera scored his 12th century.
10. Pragyan Ojha claimed career best figure of 115/4 in his 6th test.
11. Sangakkara reached 7913 runs in his 151 innings. He scored his 32nd half-century.
12. Mahela scored his 35th half-century.
Special Fact of Test
13. Tendulkar became the highest capped player in Test history. Playing his 169th test, he surpassed Steve Waugh’s record.
14. Laxman and Raina added 105 runs for 5th wicket.
Venue: P Sara Oval, Colombo
Toss: Sangakkara
Teams
Sri Lanka
Paranavitana, Dilshan, Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Samaraweera, Mathews, Jaya HAPW Jayawardene†, S Randiv, SL Malinga, UWMBCA Welegedara, BAW Mendis
India
V Sehwag, M Vijay, R Dravid, SR Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, SK Raina, MS Dhoni*†, A Mishra, A Mithun, I Sharma, PP Ojha
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