Sirianka v India, 2nd Test, Galle, 3rd day

Sri Lanka VS India

The Galle Test continued to amaze. The third day featured periods of heavy attrition, heavy artillery, then some attrition and some more artillery, and two wickets in two overs to cap it off. India managed to walk away with the honours, thanks to a special two-wicket over from Anil Kumble and fifties by Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir. Despite Mahela Jayawardene's calm innings and two late strikes by Sri Lanka, India moved towards a comfortable lead on a pitch that could be at its worst in the fourth innings.

After India had secured a 37-run lead in the first innings, it was Sehwag who drove home the advantage, continuing in familiar vein: he hit the first ball he faced for a boundary. Nuwan Kulasekara got a repeat dose four times in his four overs. Muttiah Muralitharan, introduced in the sixth over, was swept for a four in his first over and a six in his second. Ajantha Mendis, brought on in the 17th over, was cut for a four in his second over.

Only Chaminda Vaas, who was faced mostly by Gambhir, escaped the treatment. Finally it took a special catch - fast and high, taken at short cover - by Tillakaratne Dilshan to dismiss Sehwag.

Gambhir, who had made a slow start, then quietly took the front seat. He had scored two runs off 20 when Sehwag had 22 off 15, but when Sehwag got out for 50, Gambhir had 39 off 65. His handling of Murali was exceptional: no more getting suckered out of the crease, he was almost always right to the pitch of the ball. He slog-swept Murali, cover-drove him, and then charged him straight down to reach his second fifty of the match - a first for him, as with Sehwag, who for the first time scored a half-century in a match where he had scored a hundred already.

Post-tea, Sri Lanka came back, like India in the first session, and tightened the screws. Twenty-three runs came off the next 11 overs - the last ball of which was a special one. Mendis' offbreak started outside leg stump in the air, drifted further away, and broke big to beat Gambhir's pad and take the off stump. Sachin Tendulkar and Dravid attacked in response. Tendulkar, especially, stepped out and also employed the vertical sweep to the spinners.

It would not be an overstatement to say that Dravid was helped out of his bad patch by the batsmen around him. At one point, 2.3 overs after Gambhir's dismissal, he had faced just 15 balls in the ten preceding overs, and 48 out of the 22.3 overs he had been out in the middle for. When Gambhir got out, he had faced Mendis' three previous overs. But that Dravid was much more comfortable was evident from two cuts for four through extra cover in one over, and a lofted shot he struck stepping out to Murali.

However, just when India came close to seeming clear favourites, Vaas struck with an offcutter, drawing Tendulkar out and getting an edge. In the next over, Murali got a decision, via review, against Dravid that left the batsman irate. It was not, perhaps, the actual final decision that was objectionable - the offbreak pitched outside off and would have taken middle - but the inordinate amount of time taken by Jayawardene to go for the review. Two wickets had fallen in two overs, the Galle Test had turned once more, and India were not the dominant side anymore.

The first session, too, saw its fair share of twists and turns. It was slow, but just as intense and gripping as the others, and perhaps more crucial. Almost every over - before Mahela started farming strike following a double-strike - featured a loud shout, or an edge that fell short, or a sharp spinning delivery that missed everything. Kumble and Harbhajan bowled 24 successive overs in tandem, and but for a three-over spell by Ishant Sharma in the final session yesterday, they bowled 68 overs at a stretch. Harbhajan took his unbroken spell to 37 overs, and then started bowling immediately from the other end.

Jayawardene, despite back-to-back wickets for Kumble and Harbhajan, kept Sri Lanka in the game. He was not affected by the spinning ball, the variations in the bowling, and all that happened around him. There were no free runs on offer; but he was cool enough to not try to hit himself out of the situation. He managed a total of five boundaries in the session - Malinda Warnapura had hit four in one over yesterday. And once Prasanna and Vaas fell in consecutive overs, he farmed the strike, getting good support from Kulasekara as he did.

In keeping with the narrative of the match, just when Sri Lanka seemed to have got the upper hand, another turnaround followed, with Kumble making his first impact of the series. Jayawardene, 14 short of a deserved century, edged Kumble to Dinesh Karthik, and the game was back in the balance. Although Jayawardene and Kulasekara frustrated India for 17.1 overs, India had managed to keep the partnership down to 36 runs. Kumble and Harbhajan then proceeded to remove the next two - taking the last three wickets in seven balls - to get the lead, the importance of which, on this pitch, will surely be disproportionately higher than the actual number it consists of.

Sirilanka vs India,2ND Test,GALLE

As embarrassing as defeat within four days at the SSC may have been, it wasn't entirely unexpected. For all the batting records that India have piled up over the past decade, there has frequently been a tendency to start a series poorly. Whether home or away, the batsmen are slow starters who tend to come into their element once they've had a couple of innings to size up the opposition and the conditions.

The smart money must surely be on Sri Lanka extending their fine record at Galle with a win that will ensure the series. But it would be sheer folly to write off an Indian line-up, unparalleled both in terms of experience and runs, as history suggests. Australia, who've played two memorable series in India this decade, could tell you that much.

Back in 2001, Australia destroyed India inside three days at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, extending their winning streak to 16. Apart from Sachin Tendulkar, who played two brilliant innings, everyone else looked out of their depth in the first Test. At the Eden Gardens in Kolkata a fortnight later, VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid scripted the partnership of a lifetime to change the course of both the second Test and series.

Three years later, India's batsmen were once again second-best in Bangalore, undone by Australia's superior pace attack. But in the second Test at Chepauk in Chennai, Virender Sehwag's magnificent 155 drove home an advantage established by Anil Kumble's sensational 7 for 48 on the opening day. Australia fought back, but India were still favourites heading into a final day, that was washed out.

Those glitches were at home, but the situation has been no different away. On the last two tours of England, India were thoroughly outplayed at Lord's in the opening Tests of both series. In 2002, Sehwag's 84 was the only saving grace as England established a huge lead. Ajit Agarkar's century in the second innings total of 397 only helped to reduce England's victory margin to 170 runs.

In 2007, England built a handy lead, and a dazzling century from Kevin Pietersen then set India a formidable target. It was left to Mahendra Singh Dhoni, aided by bad light and some generous umpiring, to salvage a draw.

Sri Lanka will also be keenly aware of this Indian team's ability to bounce back from dire defeats. On the last tour, India were thrashed by 10 wickets in Galle in the first Test, with a batting line-up missing Tendulkar and Laxman, managing just 187 and 180 in either innings. But in a low-scoring encounter in Kandy that followed, India overcame poor first-innings batting to snatch a famous victory. Dravid made 75, while Sourav Ganguly scored an unbeaten 98.

On the eve of the second Test, Kumble insisted that there would be no panic measures. The batting order may have been reworked in the second innings at the SSC, but that's unlikely to happen here, as well as Laxman batted at times in the first Test. "I have utmost confidence in my batsmen," he said.

With huge series coming up against Australia, England and Pakistan, a crushing defeat in Galle would mean the clamour for change becoming more than a dull buzz. This line-up has done India proud for more than a decade, but with the sand sliding towards the bottom of the timer, none of them will want to leave under ignominious circumstances.