Atapattu and Jayawardene flay India in series decider

Colombo, August 30: The first two days of the third and final Test between India and Sri Lanka may well have come from two different planets, such was the difference. On Wednesday, we saw the Indians make a hash of batting while it was a display of their bowling prowess, which was equally pathetic.

At stumps on the second day at the SSC Stadium here, Sri Lanka were in total command, having piled up 323 for five in reply to India's first innings offering of just 234 runs. The masthead of this assault was in the hands of the ever-patient Marvan Atapattu, who scored his seventh Test century, his second against India, and Mahela Jayawardene, who is five adrift of another three-figure score against the Indians.

But let us start with the bowling. Remember, this is the same pitch where Muttiah Muralitharan had created havoc on Wednesday. When he was bowling, it looked like the Indians were facing cobras.

Cut to Day Two, and the Indian bowling. It was awful. The medium-pacers first, and Zaheer Khan bowled all over the park, and short most of the time. This is the guy who had become famous for his Yorker during the ICC Knock-out tournament in Nairobi. That yorker was not to be seen on Thursday.

When he did pitch it up, he bowled half-volleys. So the batsmen played square-cuts and drives through the covers, mostly the former, all day. Twenty-one overs for 105 runs and nothing else tell their own story.

Venkatesh Prasad was way better though even he was belted around on occasion. However, he bowled a far tighter length and line, and was rewarded with three of the five wickets to fall.

Come to the spinners. Harbhajan Singh failed to make the batsmen play forward for any length of time. Bowling a good yard short almost throughout, and he to went through the point and third-man region more frequently than one would like to recount. He was a stark contrast to Murali, with whom he will inevitably compared. The Sri Lankan offie hardly ever lost his length on Wednesday, while the Indian never found his on Thursday.

Sairaj Bahutule was better of the two frontline spinners on display, pitching up and making the batsmen play forward much more frequently than Harbhajan. The leg-spinner was distinctly unlucky too, his Mumbai teammate Samir Dighe making a meal of a stumping chance with Kumara Sangakkara a mile down the pitch. Dighe then floored Jayawardene's straightforward offering, again off the hapless Bahutule.

Among the part-timers, skipper Sourav Ganguly bowled seven overs, and only in the last one did he have a hearty appeal against Hashan Tillekeratne. He was denied by umpire Asoka de Silva and walked off in a huff, leaving the official holding his cap and sunglasses.

That brings us to the umpiring. Dave Orchard was in his elements on Thursday as well. First, he gave Sanath Jayasuriya not out when the ball hit the bat, bounced off the batsman's right boot and into Mohammad Kaif's hands off Harbhajan.

Later in the day, he did nod in the Indians' favour, giving Atapattu out caught behind off the same bowler. This time there was no bat involved however, the ball coming off the flap of the pad. It is high time someone gave Mr. Orchard another lesson on the laws of cricket - in Braille.

Now the batting, and it was superb. Atapattu and Jayawardene, the only two right-handers in the Lankan top-order, made merry against this pedestrian effort by the Indian bowlers and scored freely. The home team scored 310 runs in the day, and Atapattu got 108 of them. It was not an attacking innings in the sense of hitting the leather off the ball, but he never missed an opportunity to score, in any direction. Five of his 11 boundaries raced through covers, and a couple hit the hoardings at mid-wicket. He also used the square-cut as the bowlers bowled lavishly short.

Atapattu stayed typically composed as Jayasuriya, Kumara Sangakkara and Jayawardene went on the offensive. Not once he play in the air and the bowlers never had any real chance to get rid of him.

So the chance had to come in the shape of a run-out, and the too the Indians messed up. Sangakkara played the ball to short third man and Atapattu came racing for the single, and would have been comfortably beaten had the throw from substitute fielder Dinesh Mongia had been anywhere near the stumps.

This was not the only instance when the Indian fielders failed. Jayawardene got five runs when he played to Ganguly at mid-on and set off for a sharp single. Ganguly's throw was well wide of the stumps at the non-striker's end, and raced past the flat-footed Shiv Sundar Das and Rahul Dravid at slips to cross over the third man rope. That summed up the Indians' day.

Jayawardene played like he usually does, going for his shots all the time. Going into the tea break at 36, he started proceedings after then halt with a straight six off Harbhajan. He scored 59 runs in the last session, and would have gotten his century on Thursday had a couple of wickets not fallen late in the day.