Muralitharan Keeps Sri Lanka In The Hunt

Can the hill country folk of Kandy have ever been so richly entertained? Forthe first half of the day the Indian fast bowlers scythed through the Sri Lankanbatting and in the afternoon, hometown hero Muttiah Muralitharan thrashed acomical half-century that put his side firmly in the box seat at the end of thethird day of this second Test.

It was an astonishing day. Zaheer Khan and Venkatesh Prasad bowled theirhearts out, taking nine wickets between them, as Sri Lanka slumped from 52 forone to 124 at lunch and then lost four wickets in 33 balls in a postprandialslumber to leave them on 157 for nine, with a lead of just 199.

In 76 crazy minutes, however, Muralitharan and last man Ruchira Perera swungthe game emphatically back towards Sri Lanka with a 64-run partnership for thelast wicket, which was a record for the wicket against India and the equalhighest of the game. Sterile statistics,  though, do not tell the realtale.

It was the manner in which Muralitharan scored his first ever first- classfifty, 67 runs off 65 balls, which included three sixes and four fours, thatbrought the crowd, which swelled to nearly 8000 as news of Muralitharan’sheroics spread through the town, to hysterics and India’s players to theirknees in frustration.

He strutted to the wicket to a standing ovation and then taunted the touristslike a chief clown. His strokeplay mixed outlandish heaves, full-blooded pullsand exaggerated defense ­ he even padded up to Ganguly eight yards down thepitch, much to the bowlers verbal disgust. In between balls he rehearsed astartling array of innovative strokes and in between overs he exercised hisnovel right to request refreshment and a rub down from the 12th man.

When Ruchira Perera walked in to bat, Muralitharan was only on 11, but hetook firm command of the situation as Ganguly bizarrely pushed eight fieldsmenback onto the fence, surely the first time that the Lankan spin ace has beenhanded such respect while he was batting.

 Psychologically and tactically the plan backfired as Muralitharancleverly farmed the strike. He refused to take ones until the final two balls ofthe over, but managed to scramble the odd two and belt an occasional boundary.When he was finally caught on the long off boundary India needed 264 runs forvictory.

It is a testing target. England only limped home by three wickets when askedto chase 160 in Kandy last March and Sri Lanka lost to South Africa by sevenruns when they were bowled out for 169 here last year.

This pitch has not crumbled like those two surfaces, however, which shouldgive India hope.

India’s openers survived the new-ball by the skin of their teeth,especially Shiv Sunder Das (19), who looked fortunate not to be adjudgedleg-before wicket by Chaminda Vaas on two occasions before he had scored. He wasalso bowled off a no ball of Vaas, who bowled superbly in his seven over burst(7-5-6-0).

Das and Sadogoppan Ramesh (13*) had added 31 for the first wicket beforeSanath Jayasuriya threw the ball to Muralitharan. Das pull-swept him to themid-wicket boundary, but the off spinner deceived the right-hander with hisstraighter delivery in his third over to leave India on 42 for one.

They lost no further wickets before bad light stopped play at 6.05pm withIndia on 55 for one with 209 still required, but Muralitharan created enoughproblems to suggest that he holds the key to this match tomorrow.

Were it not for top scorer Muralitharan then Sri Lanka would in allprobability have been heading towards their third successive defeat in Kandy, asthe Sri Lankan top order crumbled under the pressure exerted by Zaheer Khan inthe morning and Prasad in the early afternoon.

Khan struck with his third delivery of the day, which brushed the outsideedge of Kumar Sangakkara’s (13) bat and was neatly taken by wicket keeperSameer Dighe.

Mahela Jayawardene and Marvan Atapattu, who scored 45 from 88 balls, added 32runs for the third wicket, before Prasad had Atappatu caught behind to leave SriLanka on 84 for four.

Ganguly bowled a short two over spell without success, but quickly calledback Khan who then dismissed first Test centurion Jayawardene (25) in the slipsand trapped Russel Arnold (4) leg-before wicket with a ball that nipped back offthe seam.

Hashan Tillakaratne (16) and Suresh Perera (15), both of whom are fightingfor their places after an unsuccessful series thus far, also put up someresistance for 50 minutes either side of lunch, adding 21 further runs.

Venkatesh Prasad then took over the mantle from Khan. Swinging the ball awayfrom the right handed Perera he caught the edge of Perera’s flashing blade andHemang Badani redeemed himself for an earlier miss with a sharp left handedcatch at second slip.

Tillakaratne had been shuffling across his stumps throughout his innings andhad survived several close leg-before appeals before Prasad trapped finallytrapped him in front with an inswinger. Prasad then quickly followed up with thewickets of Dilhara Fernando and Chaminda Vaas to secure his seventh five-wickethaul in his 32nd Test and set the stage for Muralitharan’s theatricalperformance.

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