Ind Vs SL 3rd Test 5th Day: Laxman, the Hero, Gets India The Series

PSS Colombo: At the end of the 4th day, the speculation was that SL bowling trio of Mendis, Randiv and Malinga might end India’s hope of equaliser. After Sehwag was out for 0, India needed another hero to get the equaliser. The old horse Laxman took the challenge and got the much needed equaliser for India.

Venue: P Sara Oval, Colombo
Toss: Sangakkara
Captain: Sangakkara (SL) and Dhoni (Ind)
Man of the Match: VVS Laxman
Man of the Series: Sehwag

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

Pre-Lunch Session
Indians domintaed the session, despite the belieef that early sessions, specially on 5th day of a test provide more wickets. India just lost Ishant Sharma. Randiv took his 4th and SL’s 4th wicket of India’s 2nd inning. Surprisingly, Mendis and Malinga have been ineffective. India took lunch at 145/4 needed just 112 runs more to win. It is no more a mammoth target. Tendulkar reached another 50 of his career, probably one of the most important ones.

Post-Lunch Session
Laxman and Tendulkar took the game away from SL, giving a 109 run partnership. Randiv got Tendulkar to get his first 5-wicket haul in just his 2nd test. But, the man-in-form Raina with the hero of the day Laxman, completing his 16th century, ensured that India win convincingly without losing any more wicket.

India had the last laugh in the series on the 5th day of final test. Earlier Mendis had a laugh after putting SL in a very strong position to win the series. Being the winner of the last series, India keeps the series winner cup.

Scorecard
Ind 2nd Innings (Target 257 runs)

Vijay c Mahela b Randiv 27
Sehwag c Mahela b Randiv 0
Dravid b Randiv 7
Tendulkar c †HAPW Jayawardene b Randiv 54
Ishant c Sangakkara b Randiv 4
Laxman not out 103
Raina not out 41
Extras (b 5, lb 6, w 2, nb 9) 22
Total (5 wickets; 68.3 overs; 302 mins) 258 (3.76 runs per over)

Fall of wickets
1-10 (Sehwag, 1.5 ov), 2-27 (Dravid, 9.1 ov), 3-49 (Vijay, 15.2 ov), 4-62 (Sharma, 21.3 ov), 5-171 (Tendulkar, 51.3 ov)

Bowlers

Randiv 82/5
Malinga 49/0
Mendis 65/0
Welegedara 34/0

Test Statistics

1. SL lost their 1st test on this venue since 1994.
2. Laxman scord his 16th test century.
3. Laxman received his third Man of the Match in Test.
4. Tendulkar scored his 56th test half-century.
5. Randiv took his first 5 wicket haul in test cricket, playing just his 2nd test.
6. India scored their 4th test win in Sri Lanka.
7. Mendis scored his first half-century in a test inning, scoring 78 runs.
8. Mendis scored 78 and that is the highest by a number 10 batsman against India.
9. Mendis and Samaraweera scored record 118 runs for 9th wicket. This is the recorfd partnership for SL against any country and also a record in Ind Vs SL matches.
10. Randiv has taken the wicket of Sehwag 3 out of 3 times now.
11. Last 3 wickets of SL added 180 runs.
12. Sangakkara became the fastest to reach 8000 runs, in 151 innings.
13. Malinga became the 3rd SL bowler, after Murali and Vaas, to take 100 test wickets.
14. Sehwag completed his 21st century.
15. Amit Mishra and Abhimanyu Mithun scored their highest total in a test innings.
16. Abhimanyu Mithun completed 100 runs only in his 4th innings.
17. Sehwag became the second fastest to reach 7000 runs in Test Matches after Wally Hammond, in terms of innings. This is his 134th innings.
18. Sehwag shares the record for fastest 7000 runs in Number of Test Matches now with Wally Hammond. He is playing his 79th Test match.
19. 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.
20. Samaraweera scored his 12th century.
21. Pragyan Ojha claimed career best figure of 115/4 in his 6th test.
22. Sangakkara reached 7913 runs in his 151 innings. He scored his 32nd half-century.
23. Mahela scored his 35th half-century.
24. Laxman and Raina added 105 runs for 5th wicket
25. Laxman and Tendulkar scored 109 runs for 4th wicket in the 2nd innings.
26. Only three hundred plus partnership in this test.

Special Facts of Test

1. Tendulkar became the highest capped player in Test history. Playing his 169th test, he surpassed Steve Waugh’s record.
2. Sangakkara broke Tendulkar’s record of fastest to reach 8000 runs in number of innings. He reached in 151st innning, whereas Tendulkar has reached in 154th inning.
3. Sehwag became the 2nd fastest to reach 7000 runs in terms of innings and shares the fastest 7000 record in number of tests.
4. samaraweera and Mendis created new SL record, overall and against India too, for 9th wicket partnership.
5. Mendis created new record of highest runs by a number 10 batsman against India.