Sri Lanka vs India Second Test 2008: Day Two Report
The second test seems to be much more interesting than the previous one. With both teams looking to dominate over each other, the second test match at Galle now seems to be too close to call. India’s first innings ended at 329 runs, thanks to a typical double-century from Virender Sehwag, while Sri Lanka needs 114 runs more in order to level India’s score with 5 wickets at hand. Sri Lanka put on 215 runs losing 5 wickets at the end of the second day. Captain Mahela Jayawardene and wicket keeper Prasanna Jayawardene are batting on 46 and 5 respectively.
Considering individual performance, there are three stars who dominated in the day. First, of course, comes Virender Sehwag who remained not out after completed his fifth double century in test cricket. He is perhaps the only batsmen who batted without feeling the underlying pressure that most of the Indian batsmen carried into the match. When India got all out at 329, Sehwag remained not out at 201 off just 231 balls, hitting 22 boundaries and 4 over-boundaries. After VVS Laxman had gone back to the pavilion for 39 runs, no other Indian batsmen could provide enough support for Sehwag.
The man who looked most dangerous for India’s star studded batting line up was none over than Sri Lanka’s new wonder Ajantha Mendis, who ended up taking six wickets in India’s first innings. Though he looked ordinary against Sehwag, the other batsmen completed fail to show enough resistance against Mendis.
The last star of the day was Harbhajan Singh, who kept India in the match, taking four wickets in the concluding session of the day. Sri Lanka did not have a good start as they lost opener Michael Vandort for 4 in the first over of the innings. However, Kumar Sangakara and first test’s centurion Malinda Warnapura made an excellent second-wicket partnership, contributing 133 runs. With Warnapura getting out for 66, Sri Lanka went through a tough phase of time in the last session as the host batting line up looked fumbled, losing four wickets within 55 runs. Harbhajan Singh was the man responsible for the little collapse in Sri Lankan innings, bowling with sheer pace and maintaining line and length. Kumar Sangakara played an effective innings of 68 runs, before becoming the third victim of Harbhajan Singh.
At this moment, I think, India is a bit ahead of Sri Lanka, but with Mahela Jayawardene still batting, I see every possibility Sri Lanka could come back in the match. Mahela has Prasanna Jayawardene with him at this moment, and in the tail-end Mahela will find experienced Chaminda Vaas to get some support in order to build up Sri Lanka’s innings. However, to do that, Mahela has to play with sheer responsibility tomorrow. India, on the other hand, will look to bundle out Sri Lankan innings within 50-60 runs more in the first session.
I think, the match will produce result, because the wicket already started turning. With time passing on, the wicket will have more turn for the spinners. The advantage for Indian team is that they will not have to bat in the last innings in the match.
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