Ganguly, Dravid Help India Square Series

KANDY

In front of a capacity local crowd who had come to cheer Sri Lanka's firstseries victory for 16 months and with his captaincy attracting increasingcriticism, Indian captain Saurav Ganguly finally cast off his poor form to guidehis side to a convincing seven-wicket victory at Asgiriya International Stadiumin Kandy on Saturday.

Chasing 264 for victory India had started the day on 55 for one needing 209more. India's injury ravaged side's highest score of the series had been the 232they scored in the first innings here and on a fourth day pitch the wiles ofMuralitharan looked an insurmountable challenge.

India, however, won the with ease thanks to a masterful 75 from number threebatsman Rahul Dravid and an unbeaten 98 from Ganguly, who only failed to reachhis century when rookie Mohammad Kaif had the impudence to flick the winningboundary.

Indeed, it was a crucial third wicket stand of 91 between Dravid and Gangulythat paved the way for Ganguly's triumph. Sadogopan Ramesh's dismissal, whichended a stubborn 61-run second wicket partnership, had put Sri Lanka back in thebox seat, but Dravid nd Ganguly used all of their experience to blunt the majorthreat of local hero Muttiah Muralitharan.

Prior to his match winning half century this afternoon Ganguly had failed toreach fifty in 13 consecutive innings. And a Test average of just 24.65 ascaptain meant that critics were openly questioning whether he could lead theside and perform with the bat. This was his highest score since the 125 hescored against New Zealand 18 months ago and only his third half century ascaptain.

Ganguly was assisted by Sri Lanka's jittery fielders, who missed threeseparate chances. He was dropped straight after lunch by a diving Muralitharanat backward point when on 26, then at short leg when an attempted pull balloonedup in the air yards away from Hashan Tillakratne, who had taken evasive actionand, finally, by Russel Arnold at second slip when he had scored 63.

However, after his third slice of luck, with India on 218 for three, Gangulystarted to bat serenely and hurried the match to a close. Dilhara Fernando wasflashed through the covers and clipped over mid on, whilst Muralitharan wasdisdainfully lofted straight down the ground.

Sri Lanka's bowlers had failed to bowl with same vigour, nor extract the samedegree of movement, that Zaheer Khan and Venkatesh Prasad had produced onFriday, when they had bowled out Sri Lanka for 221 in the second innings toset-up the possibility of an Indian victory today.

Chaminda Vaas failed to swing the older ball like he had swung the new ballyesterday evening and, apart from an occasional dangerous delivery fromFernando, the other seamers looked innocuous. Worse, they failed to maintain atight line and length, offering the Indian batsmen plenty of scoringopportunities.

Muralitharan was by far the most threatening weapon at the disposal ofskipper Jayasuriya, but he was played expertly by Dravid and Ganguly, whopunished him harshly whenever he erred. He proved unusually expensive, conceding96 runs in his 25 overs.

Unlike his teammates in Galle, Dravid clearly had a game plan. He wasparticularly severe on the short ball and cut Muralitharan for three fours inthe off-spinner's first eight over spell of the day. To the good length balls hereached out of his crease and outside the line of stump, from where he eitherplayed with soft hands or padded away.

Sri Lanka did not deserve much luck, but were unfortunate in the morning whenDravid was deceived by Muralitharan's wonderfully disguised straighter ball andadjudged not out by umpire Tyronne Wijewardene when he had made just 29.

India scored 96 runs for the loss of just one wicket in the morning sessionand then stepped on the gas after the interval, when they scored the remaining113 runs in just 27.4 overs.

When Dravid was finally caught at silly point off Muralitharan India were 194for three and a solemn crowd were suddenly roused. They gave their team onefinal cheer, but when Ganguly was then dropped twice, they realised that itwasn't going to be their day and they slowly filtered out of the stadium.

Sri Lanka have now lost their last three Tests in Kandy in the last 13-monthsand seven out of the 11 that have played here. When they lost to England inMarch in similar circumstances they were then routed at the Sinhalese SportsClub. Suddenly, they are the team with a point to prove.

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