A “Galle(ing)” loss for the Lankan Lions

An inspired and hostile spell of fast bowling by Ishant Sharma combined with Harbhajan’s guile to beat Sri Lanka at Galle. After losing the first test at Colombo by an innings last week, Team India bounced back to hand Sri Lanka only their 3rd loss at this venue (Australia and Pakistan have earlier beaten Sri Lanka at Galle, if I recall right).

Yesterday, at the end of three days, the game was evenly poised. Both sides and gained- and squandered- their advantage at different times. Having lost both Sachin and Dravid towards the end of yesterday with a lead of 237, Indian fans must have expected  that Laxman and Ganguly would propel the team to a near assailable lead of 400. Sadly, that was not to be and the Indian second innings folded up fairly early today, leaving the Lankans to score a reasonable 307 to win.

And that is where Ishant played such a crucial role. He and Zaheer (who also bowled with fire, although he did give away a few extras due to no-balls) had the top 3 batsmen back in the dressing room with Sri Lanka’s second innings score at 10/3. Samaraweera, who remainded unbeaten on 67, defended one end dourly, scoring when opportunities presented themselves. But a steady procession at the other end soon meant that the Lankans were handed a Galle(ing) defeat.

The 3rd and last test that begins at Colombo next Friday will thus become even more interesting. Kudos to team India. It wuld be churlish if I do not mention the huge contributions made by Sehwag and Gambhir, who, between them, accounted for nearly 2/3 of the runs scored by Team India in both innings. Which all goes back to prove what experts always say- you need to bat well, bowl well and field well to win a cricket match!