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India needs four wickets for Mumbai Test win, Sangakkara stands in the way | India were made to fight hard on the fourth day of the third and final cricket Test against Sri Lanka being played at the Brabourne Cricket Stadium here on Saturday. The Indians still need four wickets to grab a two-nil scoreline in the series and achieve the coveted number one ranking among Test playing nations. Sri Lanka skipper Kumar Sangakkara is still at the
crease with a battling unbeaten 133, containing 19 boundaries and a six. Fast
bowler Nuwan Kulasekara is giving him company. The visitors are still trailing
the home side by 59 runs, and as the situation stands now, could make India bat
again for an almost certain victory. India spent most of the day working its way
through the Sri Lanka batting line-up, and was helped considerably by a middle-order
collapse of four wickets for 25 runs immediately after lunch. The day began with
another umpiring howler against Tillakaratne Dilshan, followed by a stodgy 90-run
stand between Tharanga Paranavitana and Sangakkara, before the middle-order wobbled
against the inspired Indian bowling. Although lucky with Dilshan's wicket, Harbhajan
then gave both the left-hand batsmen a tough time. He bowled smartly, but Sangakkara
and Paranavitana batted smartly too. Harbhajan mixed pace, trajectory, line, and
angle and beat the batsmen with his variations. But Sangakkara and Paranavitana
didn't let him have a prolonged spell at either of them by taking quick singles.
Three of Harbhajan's subsequent overs in that spell featured plays and misses,
all four had singles. Initially Paranavitana was more at ease than Sangakkara,
who looked for the getaway sweep shot against Harbhajan and nearly got out twice.
Paranavitana was solid in defence and rarely played away from his body but he
still played aggressive shots for release every now and then, especially against
Pragyan Ojha, whom he lofted for three on-side boundaries. After lunch Paranavitana
reached a well-deserved half-century, his second in the match, but was soon done
in by a superb outswinger from Sreesanth. The bowler had to wait his turn on the
fourth morning, with MS Dhoni choosing to begin with spin from one end, but made
his presence felt with sharp swing. By then Sangakkara had settled in and Sri
Lanka's challenge was to bat through scoreless periods without letting it affect
them, the cricinfo website reports. Sangakkara managed that, defending stoutly,
using his feet against the spinners, spending 17 balls on 46, and then bringing
up his fifty off 145 balls. The other two middle-order mainstays, though, couldn't
match Sangakkara. Zaheer followed Sreesanth's impressive spell with his best of
the series. A 22-ball run-less period followed a ball that moved slightly away
from Mahela Jayawardene and took the edge. Four overs later, from round the stumps,
Zaheer tucked up Thilan Samaraweera, who edged low to first slip where VVS Laxman
took a sharp catch. Just before tea, Ojha spun one sharply across Angelo Mathews,
giving Dhoni his 100th catch, and not a straightforward one at that. Sri Lanka
went into the break 189 runs behind. They returned having learnt the lesson, and
made a conscious effort to not get bogged down. Sangakkara started stepping out
to Ojha and cleared the aggressive field placements with ease. Prasanna Jayawardene
pulled and drove Zaheer for fours, slog-swept Virender Sehwag for a six, and in
no time the deficit started approaching double figures. Ojha ended that partnership
when Prasanna played down the wrong line and was caught lbw. The two had added
64 runs in 14.4 overs. At stumps, Sangakkara and Kulasekara had added an unbeaten
66 in 17.3 overs. |
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