India, Sri Lanka may be heading for a test draw

Opener Gautam Gambhir hit 114 as India wiped off the huge first innings deficit of 334 runs and moved to 341-4 in their second knock by tea on the fifth and final day at the Motera stadium.

Sachin Tendulkar, who began his third decade in Test cricket with this match, was unbeaten on 55 after sharing a fourth-wicket stand of 66 with Gambhir.

Venkatsai Laxman was the other batsman at the crease on 28, having added 66 for the fifth wicket with Tendulkar.

With just one session remaining, the Test was headed for a draw as Sri Lanka's bowlers struggled to cope with the batsman-friendly pitch on which just 21 wickets have fallen over the five days.

Tendulkar, the world's leading Test and one-day scorer, set a new benchmark by completing 30,000 international runs when he turned Chanaka Welegedara to square-leg for a single to reach 35.

The run took his Test career tally to 12,812, building on the 17,188 one-day and 10 Twenty20 runs he has scored since making his debut on November 15, 1989 against Pakistan in Karachi.

Gambhir's seventh Test century was the third in successive matches this year after making 137 in Napier and 167 in Wellington on India's tour of New Zealand in March-April.

The Delhi opener kept vigil for six hours and 37 minutes when he attempted to loft left-arm spinner Rangana Herath soon after lunch and holed out to mid-off.

Nightwatchman Amit Mishra, who came in at the fall of Rahul Dravid's wicket on Thursday evening, batted for 45 minutes in the morning session before falling to a brilliant catch by Tillakaratne Dilshan.

Dilshan, who had floored a sharp chance off Mishra in the slips earlier in the day, dived to his right at leg-gully to pick up a low catch as the batsman flicked seamer Angelo Mathews. Mishra made 24 in a 40-run stand for the third wicket with Gambhir.

Tendulkar, who was dismissed for four in the first innings as India slipped to 32-4 within the first hour of the Test, hit four boundaries in his first 17 runs.

He punched Mathews through the covers, took two boundaries in the same region in one over from Muttiah Muralitharan, before smashing Mathews to the point fence.

India made 426 in the first innings and Sri Lanka replied with a mammoth 760-7 declared, the highest total ever scored on Indian soil. The second Test starts in Kanpur on Tuesday, followed by the third at the Brabourne stadium in Mumbai from December 2.

Subscribe to The China Post and save 25%. Click here

SharePrintEmail

Write a Comment

Terms

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos
 Respond to this email