Sehwag and Gambhir wrest initiative

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

The Galle Test continued to amaze. The third day featured periods of heavyattrition, heavy artillery, then some attrition and some more artillery,and two wickets in two overs to cap it off. India managed to walk away with thehonours, thanks to a special two-wicket over from Anil Kumble andfifties by Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir. Despite MahelaJayawardene’s calm innings and two late strikes by Sri Lanka, India moved towards a comfortable lead on a pitch that could be at its worst in the fourth innings.After India had secured a 37-run lead in the first innings, it was Sehwagwho drove home the advantage, continuing in familiar vein: he hitthe first ball he faced for a boundary. Nuwan Kulasekara got a repeat dosefour times in his four overs. Muttiah Muralitharan, introduced in the sixthover, was swept for a four in his first over and a six in his second.Ajantha Mendis, brought on in the 17th over, was cut for a four in hissecond over.Only Chaminda Vaas, who was faced mostly by Gambhir, escaped the treatment.Finally it took a special catch – fast and high, taken at short cover – by Tillakaratne Dilshan to dismiss Sehwag.Gambhir, who had made a slow start, then quietly took the front seat.He had scored two runs off 20 when Sehwag had 22 off 15, but when Sehwag gotout for 50, Gambhir had 39 off 65. His handling of Murali was exceptional:no more getting suckered out of the crease, he was almost always right tothe pitch of the ball. He slog-swept Murali, cover-drove him, and thencharged him straight down to reach his second fifty of the match – a first for him, as with Sehwag, who for the first time scored a half-century in a match where he had scored a hundred already.Post-tea, Sri Lanka came back, like India in the first session, andtightened the screws. Twenty-three runs came off the next 11 overs – thelast ball of which was a special one. Mendis’ offbreak startedoutside leg stump in the air, drifted further away, and broke big to beatGambhir’s pad and take the off stump. Sachin Tendulkar and Dravid attacked in response. Tendulkar, especially, stepped out and also employed the vertical sweep to the spinners.It would not be an overstatement to say that Dravid was helped out of hisbad patch by the batsmen around him. At one point, 2.3 overs afterGambhir’s dismissal, he had faced just 15 balls in the ten preceding overs, and 48 out of the 22.3 overs he had been out in the middle for. When Gambhir got out, he hadfaced Mendis’ three previous overs. But that Dravid was much more comfortable was evident from two cuts for four through extra cover in one over, and a lofted shot he struck stepping out to Murali.

However, just when India came close to seeming clear favourites, Vaasstruck with an offcutter, drawing Tendulkar out and getting an edge. In thenext over, Murali got a decision, via review, against Dravid thatleft the batsman irate. It was not, perhaps, the actual final decision that wasobjectionable – the offbreak pitched outside off and would have takenmiddle – but the inordinate amount of time taken by Jayawardene to go forthe review. Two wickets had fallen in two overs, the Galle Test had turnedonce more, and India were not the dominant side anymore.The first session, too, saw its fair share of twists and turns. It wasslow, but just as intense and gripping as the others, and perhapsmore crucial. Almost every over – before Mahela started farming strikefollowing a double-strike – featured a loud shout, or an edge that fellshort, or a sharp spinning delivery that missed everything. Kumble andHarbhajan bowled 24 successive overs in tandem, and but for a three-overspell by Ishant Sharma in the final session yesterday, they bowled 68overs at a stretch. Harbhajan took his unbroken spell to 37 overs, andthen started bowling immediately from the other end.Jayawardene, despite back-to-back wickets for Kumble and Harbhajan, kept SriLanka in the game. He was not affected by the spinning ball, thevariations in the bowling, and all that happened around him. There wereno free runs on offer; but he was cool enough to not try to hit himself out of thesituation. He managed a total of five boundaries in the session – MalindaWarnapura had hit four in one over yesterday. And once Prasanna andVaas fell in consecutive overs, he farmed the strike, getting goodsupport from Kulasekara as he did.In keeping with the narrative of the match, just when Sri Lankaseemed to have got the upper hand, another turnaround followed,with Kumble making his first impact of the series. Jayawardene, 14 short ofa deserved century, edged Kumble to Dinesh Karthik, and the game was back inthe balance. Although Jayawardene and Kulasekara frustrated India for 17.1overs, India had managed to keep the partnership down to 36 runs. Kumble andHarbhajan then proceeded to remove the next two – taking the last threewickets in seven balls – to get the lead, the importance of which, on thispitch, will surely be disproportionately higher than the actual number it consistsof.