Sri Lanka v India, 1st Test, SSC, Colombo, 4th day

Murali and Mendis maul India

The Bulletin by Sidharth Monga

July 26, 2008

Sri Lanka 600 for 6 dec (Jayawardene 136, Dilshan 125*, Warnapura 115, Samaraweera 127) beat India 223 (Laxman 56, Murali 5-84, Mendis 4-72) and 138 (Gambhir 43, Murali 6-26, Mendis 4-60) by an innings and 239 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out



Muttiah Muralitharan took his 21st ten-wicket haul in Tests © AFP





In a match dominated by not one but two smiling assassins, Sri Lanka completely destroyed the Indian batting line-up twice over to script their best win at home. India started the fourth day needing 242 runs to avoid the follow-on but, with 77 minutes to go to stumps, they had slumped to their third-worst Test defeat ever with an abject collapse to the spin pair of Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis.


Murali and Mendis, assisted by the ever-alert close-in fielders and the wicketkeeper, did not loosen the vice grip they had had over the batsmen ever since the ball was thrown to Mendis in the 10th over of India's first innings. With Mendis keeping the batsmen on a leash - his only two bad deliveries were the full tosses in his first two overs - and leaving the batsmen mesmerised, it was Murali who smiled his way to two five-fors, his 21st ten-wicket haul, also his fourth at the SSC.


There was no respite for the batsmen from either end as 19 wickets fell to the spin pair - who bowled 87.5 overs out of the 117.5 that India faced in the match. Mendis's non-bowling hand, just before delivery, was the most symbolic image of the match: the left hand came down with the index finger pointing out, just as when an umpire gives a batsman out. One of the most anticipated debuts of recent times turned out to be the best for a Sri Lankan.


Murali and Mendis managed to sink the batsmen with similar deliveries to the ones that had done them in the first innings. With India trailing by 377 in the first innings, the follow-on decision was a no-brainer. The new-ball bowlers were fresh: they bowled only 16 overs in the innings, with Murali and Mendis bowling 49 successive overs in tandem. Going by the trend, it seemed the seamers might bowl even fewer overs than they did in the first innings. Jayawardene promptly summoned his spinners five overs into the second, and the move worked immediately. Murali accounted for Sehwag in a controversial manner, with what was the last ball before lunch.


In the next session, India lost five. Hoping for a repeat of Kolkata 2001, India sent Laxman, the first-innings half-centurion, at No. 3. He hit three beautiful boundaries off the medium-pacers, before Mendis nailed him. This time it was the quicker googly - perhaps because the ball was fairly new - which caught him on the back foot. Laxman didn't have a clue as to which way it would spin, and was out plumb.


Sachin Tendulkar was a tad unfortunate, when he missed a sweep outside the leg stump, and the ball caught the edge and lobbed to leg slip. Gambhir found his Pied Piper in Murali, and was drawn out for the second time in two innings and beaten in the flight before Prasanna Jayawardene completed an exceptional stumping.


Just before tea, the Murali and Mendis worked their magic again in successive overs. Sourav Ganguly never looked comfortable against Murali and edged to second slip. Mendis, then, made Rahul Dravid revisit the first-innings horror, just missing the off stump with his carrom ball. The next ball, a googly, had Dravid playing in front of his pad, and bat-padding it. The rest was just a formality, which Murali and Mendis finished in style, with Mendis taking the last two in the same over.


The first half of the day was slightly better, although India had managed only 64 runs. Muralitharan completed his 64th five-for with Harbhajan Singh's wicket, but it was Mendis who inflicted major damage. Even Laxman had trouble picking him, the carrom ball being his main tormentor. Laxman was let off in the second over of the day, as an outside edge off Mendis bisected the keeper and Mahela Jayawardene at slip. The other batsmen were even more clueless. Anil Kumble and Zaheer were trapped by Mendis top spinners. Harbhajan played for a Murali doosra, but got an offspinner, which resulted in an easy bat-pad catch.


With the tailenders for company, Laxman did not refuse singles off the last ball of the over on two occasions. Harbhajan fell in the over that followed, while Zaheer survived. Laxman started farming the strike with the No. 11 Ishant Sharma, though, and continued to do so until he was fairly confident in Ishant's ability. Laxman had himself grown in confidence, had started reading Mendis better, and kept employing the wristy flick to the leg side. Despite the odd leading edge, Laxman kept attacking. But Mendis, after having bowled an unbroken 27-over spell, returned from Murali's end to get his man. He first beat him with a 95kph legbreak, angling in and then breaking away, before squaring him up with a googly, ending his 158-minute stay at the crease.


The match had started on a gloomy note with four-and-a-quarter hours lost on the first day. On a shirtfront of a pitch, it would have been foolhardy to expect a result. Sri Lanka last lost a Test at home in April 2006 against Kandy, and if Murali and Mendis keep bowling in the same manner, it begs the question: is it possible now to beat them at home as long as Murali and Mendis bowl in tandem?

Sidharth Monga is a staff writer at Cricinfo

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This is what you call licks. If Murli dont get you Mendis will. M and M's.

Looks like Sri Lanka might win this one as well. Again, it s the 2 M's.