India won the second Test against Sri Lanka by 7 wickets

Sri Lanka, August 25: India stormed back into the three-Test series by humbling host Sri Lanka by 7 wickets at Kandy on day four as Lanka's poor run at the venue continued to haunt the hosts.

Man of the match Saurav Ganguly rose from the ashes like the mythical phoenix, slamming a fine unbeaten 98 and guiding India to victory. For once, the infamous batting collapse did not let the Indians down.

Day four belonged to India as they never looked like making a hash of it. Dravid was instrumental in infusing a sense of confidence, looking for singles and punishing loose deliveries.

The win squares the series one-all after India lost the first Test match at Galle. The stage is now set for a pulsating finish at the third and final Test at Colombo.

Continuing from their overnight score of 55-1, India - chasing 264 to win - began purposefully with Rahul Dravid and S S Ramesh. The duo added 61 runs before Fernando got one to jump and surprise Ramesh who gave a catch to Jayasuriya at first slip. Ramesh scored 31 with four fours. In spite of the dismissal, Dravid stood firm like the rock of Gibraltar, protecting his wicket but at the same time playing some delectable drives and pull shots.

Dravid, conscious of the fact that Muralitharan was the trump card for Lanka, adopted an interesting strategy against the wrist spinner. Playing him off the pads, Dravid frustrated Murali and then capitalised on the loose deliveries by dispatching them to the fence. Three times Muralitharan dropped a fraction short and all three deliveries were forced off the back foot for fours. Dravid rode his luck after he had two close calls. The first coming when he edged the ball to slips only to see it land just short of Jayawardene.

A short while later he survived a confident leg before wicket appeal by Muralitharan. The action replay showed that Dravid was pretty adjacent to the wicket when the ball thudded into the back leg.

With India cruising and Jayasuriya looking clueless, Murali came back and immediately accounted for Dravid. The otherwise solid defence of Dravid crumbled as he reached out for Murali delivery only to offer a bat and pad chance to Arnold at silly point. Dravid made a superb 75 with 12 fours under pressure. Dravid along with Ganguly had put on 91 runs for the third wicket. Mohammad Kaif remained not out on 19 along with skipper Ganguly.

For India there were some good performances from Zaheer Khan and Prasad. Zaheer bowled an immaculate line and length during the entire Test, forging crucial breakthroughs and Prasad took a five wicket haul in the Sri Lankan second innings.