Positives For Lanka

The first Test between India and Sri Lanka expectedlyended in a draw but it was the visitors who walked off with the psychologicalgains from the rain-truncated tie today.

The Sri Lankans first bundled out the hosts for theirlowest-ever total against the islanders on 167 and then showed betterapplication on a difficult track at the Chidambaram Stadium to finish the fifthand final day on 168 for four.

With just one-and-half day's play being possible in therain-marred match, Marvan Atapattu's men claimed both the batting and bowlinghonours which would hold them in good stead in the remaining two matches of theseries.

Mahela Jayawardene was the top scorer with a defiant 71on a track that offered uneven bounce and played a big role in steering theLankan total past India's modest effort.

Thilan Samarweera was the other notable contributorwith an unbeaten 35 before play was called off with 12 mandatory overs remainingto be bowled.

Resuming at 90 for two, the Indians collapseddramatically, losing their last eight wickets for the addition of just 77 runsto the total. Seasoned paceman Chaminda Vaas was the chief wrecker with 4 for 20while Muttiah Muralitharan chipped in with two wickets.

The two teams will now travel to Delhi to play thesecond match, to be held at the Feroze Shah Kotla from December 10 to 14.

With the first three-and-half days of play being ruined, draw was a foregoneconclusion but India, on a high after a strong showing in the one-day seriesagainst both the Lankans and South Africa, failed to utilise the opportunity.

Attapattu waited for his team to overhaul the Indiantotal before agreeing to call off the match at the end of the third of the 20mandatory overs with Thilanga Samaraweera (35) and Tillakeratne Dilshan (8)taking the team's total to 168 for four in 43 over after Mahela Jayawardene (80balls, 14x4, 1x6) had set the tone.

The Sri Lankans, looking to put behind their 1-6 seriesloss in the shorter version recently, showed signs that they were on course fortheir first-ever Test win on Indian soil when they play the next two Tests.

After restricting the hosts to 90 for two last evening,they came back strongly in the morning to claim eight wickets in the space of 26overs and the Indian innings folded up at 167, the lowest-ever total against theislanders, the previous low being 180 at Galle in 2001.

Vaas led from the front taking four wickets and bowleda superb spell which included seven maidens on a trot while Muralitharan gavehim good support taking a couple as the Indians lost wickets at regularintervals.

Much was expected of Sachin Tendulkar, looking for his35th century to surpass Sunil Gavaskar's tally, and Saurav Ganguly, on acomeback into the team, but both failed to make their mark much to thedisappointment of a good crowd that had thronged the stadium despite today beinga working day and the expected outcome.

Debutant Mahendra Singh Doni waged a lone battle scoring a valuable 30 andthrowing his wicket away in the end having run out of partners. In totalcontrast to the Sri Lankan bowling, the Indian attack looked to be mediocre withnone of the three pace bowlers troubling the batsmen.

Jayawardene, who was classy in his shot selection andexecution making his 24th 50 plus score in Tests, added 57 runs for the secondwicket with Kumara Sangakkara (30-5x4) and then 62 runs with Samaraweera for thethird wicket.

Skipper Rahul Dravid took off Irfan Pathan from theattack and brought in Ganguly in the 11th over but the former captain could dolittle.

In fact, Jayawardene went on the offensive againstGanguly in his second over, hitting three boundaries, including a sweetly-timedcover drive as the visitors hoisted their 50 from 75 balls.

With all the three medium pacers proving largelyineffective, Dravid fell back on the spin duo of Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble.

The Karnataka bowler live up to his captain's faith byremoving Sangakkara off his very first ball, trapping him leg before wicket.

Sangakkara and Jayawardene had added 57 crucial runsfor the second wicket in 14 overs.

PTI