Imperious Sehwag Bludgeons Sri Lanka

Friday 4th December, 2009

the runs was the as he tried to sweep a need of the hour, full delivery and was they adopted nega- trapped leg before wick- tive tactics, bowling et. round the wicket on to Sehwag reached his the pads, but no tactic 17th Test hundred in 101 Imperious Sehwag was good enough to stop Sehwag, who invented some strokes to keep him and India mov- ing. deliver- ies by sweeping bludgeons Sri Lanka Muralitharan for four and raced to 150 in 130 ly,India being put into a very commanding first Test win in this country is slowly Rex Clementine deliveries requiring just position here at the Brabourne Stadium in but surely receding. reporting from Mumbai 29 balls for his third fifty. Bombay. It was breathtaking stuff by Sehwag He After the 200 plus run In reply to Sri Lanka’s 393 all out, the and even if you were Sri Lankan, it was Virender Sehwag was 16 runs short of would go partnership for the first Indians reached 443 for one, already gain- hard not to enjoy his crafty batting. becoming the only man in the history of inside out, play the wicket, another 200 plus ing a first innings lead of 50 scoring, at a It wasn’t all about big shot making that Test cricket to score three triple hundreds, reverse and paddle partnership followed rate of 5.6 runs an over and with the track Sehwag is known for. but leave that record for day three, as day sweeps apart from the between Sehwag and looking good for batting, day three is going Although his 284 runs came in just 239 two of the third and final Test match conventional strokes to Rahul Dravid for the sec- to be another daunting one for the deliveries, there was quite a bit of artistry. between Sri Lanka and India saw many show that he was the ond wicket. tourists, whose hopes of recording their When Sri Lanka thought that drying up records being broken and more important- boss and was in com- Hoping for some kind of plete control of things. solace, the Sri Lankans Such was his domi- requested for the ball to be nation, Sehwag gained changed and the umpires the admiration of agreed as it had everyone and Angelo gone out of shape, Mathews, who missed but there was no out on his maiden cen- respite for the tury after being cruelly bowlers. run out earlier, was Sehwag hit three even forgotten at the successive fours in a end of the day’s play. Nuwan Kulasekara Like his friend over and hit another Tillekeratne Dilshan, one off the last ball of Sehwag was slow off the that over to reach his blocks by his standards, double hundred in taking 31 deliveries for 15 just 168 deliveries, runs. The introduction of the second fastest Rangana Herath in the double hundred in first over after the morn- Test cricket after ing drinks break, howev- Nathan Astle’s 153 er, started the run flow as ball knock against Sehwag greeted him with England in 2001. a six off his second deliv- That was ery. Sehwag’s sixth dou- He struck the same ble hundred. bowler for another six to As he kept pun- complete 6000 runs and ishing the bowlers, hit another boundary to the Sri Lankan reach his half-century in shoulders drooped the same over off 54 and there were a deliveries. few misfields. A Murali Vijay, coming chance off Sehwag into the game for Gautam was also put down Gambhir, wasn’t going to by Mahela miss out either on a Jayawardena at first good batting track. He slip off part-timer reached his half-century Tillekeratne Dilshan by lofting Muralitharan with the batsman on for a six. 273. Murali’s first spell of India’s total of seven overs leaked 45 runs 443 is their highest and at close of play the in a day in Test world’s highest wicket taker cricket, improving on hadn’t improved on his fig- their previous best, ures. He bowled 20 overs only a week ago, in and gave away 119 runs, Indian opening bat Virender Sehwag, Kanpur where giving away almost six who bludgeoned the Sri Lankans in Sehwag, Gambir and runs an over and more Mumbai, in the third cricket Test, on Dravid helped India worryingly, failed to post 417. bowl a maiden over. Thursday. (AP Photo) Sehwag also broke In this series, Murali his own record for has now bowled 69 suc- most runs in a day in cessive overs without a Test cricket and was maiden. 23 runs short of break- All Sri Lanka’s ing Sir Don bowlers went for more Bradman’s world than five runs an over, record for most runs except for Chanaka in a day in Tests - 305 Welagedara, but against England at halfway through the Headingly. final session, he Mathews, who had returned to the dressing batted so well on day room, indicating that it one, looked poised for was due to some dis- his maiden Test centu- comfort. Although ry, but was run out there are no reports of when he attempted a any injury, the left-arm second run. The 22- seamer didn’t return to year-old pulled an S. the field. Sreeshanth bouncer Meanwhile, Sehwag and tested Sachin and Vijay added 221 Tendulkar’s arm and runs for the first wicket ended up run out for and Rangana Herath, 99 despite a diving who had put down a attempt. chance off Vijay with He joined Mahela the batsman on 67, even- Jayawardene and tually accounted for the Russel Arnold as the opener. third Sri Lankan to be His shot selection on dismissed for 99 in that occasion was poor Tests. SCOREBOARD Sri Lanka 1st Innings 23.4-1-101-3, Yuvraj Singh 4-0-18-0 (Overnight 366-8) India 1st Innings T. Paranavitana c Dravid b H. Singh 53 M. Vijay lbw b Herath 87 T. M. Dilshan c Vijay b H. Singh 109 V. Sehwag not out 284 K. Sangakkara c Dhoni b Ojha 18 R. Dravid not out 62 M. Jayawardene c Sehwag b Sreesanth 29 Extras: (3lb, 7nb) 10 T. Samaraweera c Vijay b H. Singh 1 TOTAL: (for 1 wicket) 443 A. Mathews run out 99 Overs: 79 P. Jayawardene c H. Singh b Ojha 43 Fall of wicket: 1-221 N. Kulasekara c Dhoni b Khan 12 Still to bat: S. Tendulkar, V.V.S. Laxman, Yuvraj R. Herath c Dravid b H. Singh 1 Singh, M. S. Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh, Z. Khan, M. Muralitharan not out 4 Sreesanth, Ojha. C. Welegedara lbw b Ojha 8 Bowling: Welegedara 16-2-73-0 (3nb), Kulasekara Extras: (4b, 6lb, 4nb, 2w) 16 12-0-84-0, Herath 22-2-112-1, Muralitharan 20-0- TOTAL: (all out) 393 119-0 (1nb), Mathews 6-0-36-0 (3nb), Dilshan 3-0- Overs: 94.4 16-0 Fall of wickets: 1-93, 2-128, 3-187, 4-188, 5-262, 6- Toss: Sri Lanka 329, 7-359, 8-362, 9-379, 10-393 Umpires: D. Harper (Aus), N. Llong (Eng) Bowling: Z. Khan 19-2-70-1 (4nb, 1w), Sreesanth Third Umpire: S. Tarapore (Ind) 16-1-82-1 (1w), Harbhajan Singh 32-3-112-4, Ojha Match Referee: J. Crowe (NZ)

Friday 4th December, 2009