da poker： In front of a capacity local crowd who had come to cheer Sri Lanka’sfirst series victory for 16 months and with his captaincy attractingincreasing criticism, Indian captain Sourav Ganguly finally cast offthe shackles of poor form to guide his side
Charlie Austin25-Aug-2001In front of a capacity local crowd who had come to cheer Sri Lanka’sfirst series victory for 16 months and with his captaincy attractingincreasing criticism, Indian captain Sourav Ganguly finally cast offthe shackles of poor form to guide his side to a convincing seven-wicket victoryat Asgiriya International Stadium in Kandy on Saturday.Chasing 264 for victory, India had started the day on 55 for one needing 209 more, but Sri Lanka still started favourites. India’s injury ravaged side’s highest score of the series had been the 232 they scored in the first innings here and, on a fourth day pitch, the wiles of Muralitharan looked an insurmountable challenge.India, however, won the with ease thanks to a masterful 75 from numberthree batsman Rahul Dravid and an unbeaten 98 from Ganguly, who onlyfailed to reach his century when rookie Mohammad Kaif had theimpudence to flick the winning boundary.Indeed, it was a crucial third wicket stand of 91 between Dravid andGanguly that paved the way for Ganguly’s triumph. Sadogoppan Ramesh’sdismissal, which ended a stubborn 61-run second wicket partnership,had put Sri Lanka back in the box seat, but Dravid and Ganguly used allof their experience to blunt the major threat of local hero MuttiahMuralitharan.Prior to his match-winning half-century this afternoon Ganguly hadfailed to reach fifty in 13 consecutive innings. And a Test averageof just 24.65 as captain meant that critics were openly questioningwhether he could lead the side and perform with the bat. This was hishighest score since the 125 he scored against New Zealand 18 monthsago and only his third half century as captain.Ganguly was assisted by Sri Lanka’s jittery fielders, who missed threeseparate chances. He was dropped straight after lunch by a divingMuralitharan at backward point when on 26, then at short leg when anattempted pull ballooned up in the air yards away from HashanTillakaratne and, finally, by Russel Arnold at second slip when he had scored 63.However, after his third slice of luck, with India on 218 for three,Ganguly started to bat serenely and hurried the match to a close.Dilhara Fernando was flashed through the covers and clipped over midon, whilst Muralitharan was disdainfully lofted straight down theground.Sri Lanka’s bowlers had failed to bowl with the same vigour, nor extractthe same degree of movement, that Zaheer Khan and Venkatesh Prasad hadproduced on Friday, when they had bowled out Sri Lanka for 221 in thesecond innings to setup the possibility of an Indian victory today.Chaminda Vaas failed to swing the older ball like he had swung the newball yesterday evening and, apart from an occasional dangerousdelivery from Fernando, the other seamers looked innocuous. Worse,they failed to maintain a tight line and length, offering the Indianbatsmen plenty of scoring opportunities.Muralitharan was by far the most threatening weapon at the disposal ofskipper Jayasuriya, but he was played expertly by Dravid and Ganguly,who punished him harshly whenever he erred. He proved unusuallyexpensive, conceding 96 runs in his 25 overs.Unlike his teammates in Galle, Dravid clearly had a game plan against Sri Lanka’s star bowler. He was particularly severe on the short ball and cut Muralitharan for three fours in the off-spinner’s first eight over spell of the day. To the good length balls he reached out of his crease and outside the line of stump, from where he either played with soft hands or padded away.Sri Lanka did not deserve much luck, but were unfortunate in themorning when Dravid was deceived by Muralitharan’s wonderfullydisguised straighter ball and adjudged not out by umpire TyronneWijewardene when he had made just 29.India scored 96 runs for the loss of just one wicket in the morningsession and then stepped on the gas after the interval, when theyscored the remaining 113 runs in just 27.4 overs.When Dravid was finally caught at silly point off Muralitharan, Indiawere 194 for three and a solemn crowd were suddenly roused. They gavetheir team one final cheer, but when Ganguly was then dropped twice,they realised that it wasn’t going to be their day and they slowlyfiltered out of the stadium.Sri Lanka have now lost their last three Tests in Kandy in the last13-months and seven out of the 11 that have played here. When theylost to England in March in similar circumstances they were thenrouted at the Sinhalese Sports Club. Suddenly, they are the team witha point to prove.