India shift balance of Test with strong display by CricketArchive Staff Reporter

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Ground:	P Sara Oval, Colombo
Scorecard:	Sri Lanka v India
Player:	PP Ojha, TT Samaraweera, V Sehwag
Event:	India in Sri Lanka 2010

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DateLine: 4th August 2010

 

It was one of the most riveting day of play in the series as Sehwag inspired Indian fought back to stay alive in the series. The Indian bowlers bowled admirably but Samaraweera resisted them with a well played century. For India Ojha took four wickets. In the Indian innings Sehwag blazed off to give a strong reply to the Lankan score.

 

The Sri Lankan side resumed the day on 293 for 4 with the sole aim of going past the 450 run mark. The Indian bowlers barring Amit Mishra bowled their hearts out in trying to restrict the Lankan batsmen. The overnight pair of Samaraweera and Angelo Mathews looked in comfort at the crease but the runs refused to come. Ojha and Sharma bowled splendidly as they nagged away at the patience of the Lankan batsmen who were patient enough to resist any temptation. Finally an arm ball from Ojha trapped Mathews leg-before while Prasanna Jayawardene, after providing some invaluable support to Samaraweera who who reached his Test century, fell leg before as he missed his intended sweep.

 

An innocuous flighted off-spin from Sehwag was slogged by Randiv but only succeeded in top-edging it to Dravid at first slip. Mendis defended resolutely but short balls from Sharma accounted for him and Welagedera. The Lankan innings breached the 400 run mark as they were bowled out for 425.

 

The Indian innings in reply got off solidly as Sehwag and Murali Vijay looked good in the middle. While Sehwag took time to gauge the pace and bounce of the pitch and the effectiveness of the Lankan bowlers, Murali Vijay was determined to play the role of the anchor. Once Sehwag crashed Welagedera through cover-point for a boundary he never looked back. Malinga looked the most threatening bowler on the view and though he had only two lengths - either too full or too short - the Indian batsmen were always wary of him. A slower yorker from Malinga consumed Murali Vijay while Dravid after looking good in the series for the first time was trapped leg-before by Angelo Mathews.

 

Sehwag found a solid company in the form of Tendulkar and the duo set about giving some direction to the Indian innings. The pair added 88 runs in 17.2 overs before bad light forced the umpires to call for early stumps.