When wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik failed to latch on to a snick from Mahela Jayawardene, with the batsman on 93, the bowler Anil Kumble just turned back and let off a cry of anguish. This was a repeat of a similar miss by Karthik when Jayawardene was on 53. At some point on a day when cricket made some ‘virtual’ history — with three referrals and India on the wrong end of all of them — Kumble knew he and his team mates were on the receiving end of a very real hiding.

The day saw Jayawardene scoring his ninth century at the SSC to be on par with Sir Donald Bradman, who had a similar feat at MCG. Besides Jayawardene’s innings of 136, two other batsmen scored centuries as Sri Lanka all but ensured they wouldn’t be on the losing end of the opening Test of the series here.

With the score reading 422/4 at the end of the day’s play and rain forecasted for the coming days, even if India launch a counter attack when they come to bat, there wouldn’t be enough time on hand to turn the tables on the hosts. A draw or an Indian defeat seem like the two possible outcomes of this Test match.

No flash in the pan

With Malinda Warnapura (115) and Thilan Samaraweera (111 not out), the Lankans had several positives on Day Two. For a team who have historically banked on their twin peaks — Jayawardene and Sangakkara in this team took the baton from Arjuna Ranatunga and Aravinda de Silva — the emergence of Warnapura and Samaraweera comes as a pleasant surprise. The two lesser-known Sri Lankan players had scored centuries on the previous tour to West Indies and after these performances against India they have proved that the Caribbean high wasn’t a flash in the pan.

... contd.