Paranavitana, Sanga put SL on top on Day 1

AFP

Galle, 18 July 2010: Tharanga Paranavitana and skipper Kumar Sangakkara hit centuries as Sri Lanka dominated the rain-hit opening day of the first Test against India on Sunday. The left-handed duo put on 181 for the second wicket to lead Sri Lanka to 256 for two in their first innings before heavy rain stopped play 22 overs early at the Galle International Stadium.

Sangakkara made 103, his 22nd Test century and fourth against India, while Paranavitana notched up his maiden ton to remain unbeaten on 110 at the close. Some 15,000 home fans were on hand to watch the final Test match for world bowling record holder Muttiah Muralitharan, who needs eight more scalps to reach the 800-wicket mark.

 

 

Sri Lanka’s sports minister Chandrasiri Ratnayake presented Muralitharan with a silver plaque before the start of play, which was delayed by 30 minutes due to a wet outfield caused by heavy overnight rain. Posters hailing Sri Lanka’s favourite cricketing son as the ’greatest bowler ever’ were plastered around the ground alongside giant pictures of the off-spinner. India’s depleted bowling attack, missing the injured pace duo of Zaheer Khan and Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, proved ineffective on the easy-paced wicket after Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat.

 

Paranavitana and his opening partner Tillakaratne Dilshan made use of good batting conditions to smash 55 runs in 10 overs. India’s new seamer Abhimanyu Mithun was the only bowler to escape the onslaught, conceding just six runs from his first four overs. Mithun, a 20-year-old right-arm seamer from Karnataka, was rewarded for his steady bowling when Dilshan edged a pull shot to Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni behind the stumps.

 

Dilshan, who hit six fours in his 25 off 24 balls, appeared to indicate the ball went off his elbow to the wicket-keeper. Paranavitana took a heavy toll on seamer Ishant Sharma, who went for 41 runs in his first five overs. Sangakkara overcame India’s defensive field placements -- there were six fielders on the leg-side on most occasions - to earn himself a well-deserved century.

 

The Sri Lankan captain, who hit 12 boundaries, fell against the run of play after tea when he pulled a short ball from part-time spinner Virender Sehwag to Sachin Tendulkar at deep mid-wicket. Former captain Mahela Jayawardene was unbeaten on eight when the bad weather intervened. Sharma conceded 79 runs in 14 overs, while bowling spearhead Harbhajan Singh went for 0-41 from 17 overs and left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha gave away 66 runs in 17 overs.

 

Mithun, the most impressive of the Indian bowlers, finished the day at 1-41 from 13 overs. India, the top-ranked Test side, are looking for their first series win in Sri Lanka in 17 years. Their lone success so far came through a 1-0 victory under Mohammad Azharuddin in 1993. The three-Test series is the third between the two nations in a span of two years. Sri Lanka won 2-1 at home in August 2008 before India won the return leg in their own backyard 2-0 last year.

 

Earlier, Bad light halts play, Sri Lanka on top

Captain Kumar Sangakkara struck his 22nd Test hundred as Sri Lanka exposed the fragile Indian bowling attack by reaching 228 for one at tea in the first of the three-match Test series here on Sunday. Sangakkara (100 batting) and Tharanga Paranavitana (95 batting) were still going strong at the tea interval as they captalised on a strong start of 91 for one at lunch after electing to bat at an easy Galle Inrternational Stadium pitch.

The duo treated the hapless Indian bowling attack with disdain by sharing 173 runs for the unfinished second wicket as Sri Lanka looked set for a big first day total. The depleted Indian attack without strike bowler Zaheer Khan and S Sreesanth due to injuries, were at the receiving end of a solid Sri Lankan batting display and went wicketless in the whole of the extended second session. They conceded 137 runs in 38 overs bowled in the session.

 

The lone Sri Lankan wicket so far -- that of Tillakaratne Dilshan (25) -- was taken by debutant pacer Abhimanyu Mithun, his first Test scalp, in the morning session. To compound the matters for India, their most experienced bowler Harbhajan Singh suffered from after effects of a bout of flu and apparently a hamstring problem. He went off the field mid-way into the post-lunch session but returned after 20 minutes.

Sangakkara and Paranavitana, who were on 25 and 35 at lunch break, played sensible innings as they mixed caution with aggression to deny any success to the Indians in the swansong Test for off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan. Sangakkara, the more aggressive of the two, was in fine touch punishing the Indian bowlers whenever they erred in line and length.

The Sri Lankan captain, who went past West Indian Gordon Greenidge to become the 24th most prolific Test batsman, was dropped when on 65 off part-timer Virender Sehwag, who was introduced midway in the second session, with his counterpart and wicket-keeper Dhoni failing to pouch an edge. Opener Paranavitana was more circumspect initially waiting for bad balls but he opened up after reaching his fifty, fifth in 11 Tests.

India also missed a half chance to remove Paranavitana when on 51 with a forward diving Yuvraj failing to reach the ball after the Sri Lankan opener cut uppishly a Sehwag delivery. Those couple of chances were all the Indians had as the bowlers lacked penetration and consistency to trouble the Sri Lankans. Paranavitana went on to score his best Test score in his 11th match, his earlier best being 73 against Pakistan in Colombo last year.