Shoddy batting puts India on mat vs SL

Mendis made his maiden Test fifty,but more crucially,he and Samaraweera held the three spinners,including part-timer Virender Sehwag,at bay for 233 balls as Lanka,reeling at 128 for eight,stretched their second innings to 267,setting up a target of 257.

Eyeing a win to stay in series,India needed Sehwag to fire,but it was not be. Off-spinner Suraj Randiv got the dangerman for the third time in the series,inducing an egde off his blade straight to Mahela Jayawardene at first slip. Sehwag departed for a duck and India were 10/1. Randiv got rid of Rahul Dravid and Murali Vijay as well,and India suddenly found themselves struggling to save the match.

Poor judgement

It was a culmination of what had been a forgettable post-lunch play for the Indians. They paid the price for removing fielders from catching positions and putting them in boundary-saving positions,namely at long on and long off,as soon as Samaraweera started building his innings. When Dhoni brought the men in from the deep,Samaraweera responded by hitting over them.

With the field being spread out,Samaraweera played the ball into the gaps with ease. He decided when to give Mendis the strike. Soon Samaraweera was sweeping Sehwag,in spite of a deep backward square-leg and a deep mid-wicket in place.

Later in the day,Ishant Sharma and Abhimanyu Mithun tried to use the short ball in order to break the partnership. But the ploy didn’t work till the second new ball was taken. Samaraweera perished while playing an unsuccessful pull that ended up in Dhoni’s gloves. Lack of variations — yorkers or the slower ball — made the medium pacers predictable.

The Indian spinners had a great start to the day,picking up all six wickets that fell in the morning session itself,which cost them 98 runs. Nightwatchman Randiv was trapped in front of his stumps by left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha in the fifth over of the day.

Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara have frustrated opponents with big partnerships but it was not to be on Friday. Angelo Mathews was the next to follow as he hit a full toss from Amit Mishra straight into the hands of the mid-wicket fielder.

On the next ball,the leg-spinner foxed Prasanna Jayawardene with a delivery that held its line and hit the pads. Mishra was on a hat-trick and Sri Lankan had fallen from 45 for two to 87 for seven. Malinga lasted 37 balls before Virender Sehwag got the leg-before-wicket decision. At 125 for eight and with a lead of just 114 all seemed lost for the hosts.

That was till Samaraweera and Mendis made a match out of it.