One down in the first match of the idea cup series!That too a landsliding defeat against the mighty Srilankan lions..Their batsmen roared at the beginning and their spinners spoiled the Indian plans in the second half.Though almost a whole day was lost due to rain the match saw a clear result well within the 4th day..India lost by an inning and 200 odd runs...An embarassing moment indeed for the Men in blue..The most experienced trio of the indian batting too had failed miserably and bowling too was not well respected..This is the stage set for the second test match..Venue,Galle a reconstructed stadium after the tsunami..Will Indians regain their pride or bow down to the lankans again??The stage was set.Indains won the toss and kumble opted to bat first.
The same team was picked that played in the first match.Sehwag and gambhir opened the batting.Both the batsmen gave some gusty blows to the Srilankan bowlers who were really clueless on what was happening.Then finally a breakthrough came in the form of gambhir's wicket.The indian middle order too didnt last long and again the trio failed to make any impression.The spin wizard Ajantha Mendis broke the indian mountain easily but even though wickets tumbled regularly sehwag on the other side batted quite sensationally like a blitzkreig..He piled up a massive 201 runs and eventually india was dismissed for 329.
Srilanka came in to bat.The team that had managed to pile up a mammoth 600 in the first test.Will it live the same life this match too?They opened with the same pair and like the previous test Vandort was sent back to pavillion early.then sanga and warnapura lifted the lankan innings.Both made spirited fifties.Then both didnt stand much soon after that and they were dismissed quite soon.Then the collapse started.Bhajji's magic spin worked out this time for india.Their middle order was never able to sustain the indian spin bowling.Only mahela jayawardene gave some respite to their batting.None other than him really sparked off..They were dismissed for 292.India took a handy 37 run lead.
India came into bat in the second inning.They had a successful opening partnership again this time too until sehwag was dismissed thanks to a good catch by dilshan for a 50.The team score was 90 that time.Rahul dravid who was under some serious pressure to score runs came to the field.This time he looked a lot more fluent and confident and his strokes essayed his class and potential.Gambhir however continued the same form and was agian out after he had made a good start.he made 74 this time.Dravid went on to make 44 when he was given out lbw to a ball that was clearly pitchd outside the stumps even though it was asked for a review.(Review system needs a review here!!!)Then sachin tendulkar too was seen to be in a good touch.But soon after he too was dismissed from a wonderful delivery by vaas after being beaten by vaas continuously.Then indian wickets fell at regular intervals and india made 269.The target was 307.If it was chased down it would be the highest run chase in that ground.
Now srilankans came in hoping not to repeat the previous innings errors.But the opening had a huge shock in store for them..Ishant sharma was bowling a fiery spell along with zaheer and the first 3 wickets including that of sanga and mahela fell for just 10 runs.The thilan samera weera provided some sort of respite along with dilshan.They added some 76 runs for the 5th wicket.There were nothing more in their inning.The next wickets fell like pins and they were dismisssed for a paltry 136.Bhajji again was the star with 4 wickets and ishant too produced an extra ordinary spell and claimed 3 wickets.India won by an 170 runs!!The team that was given a humiliating defeat in the first match bouced back quite extra ordinarily with both batting and bowling fields and india worked as a team.
The youngsters are really firing big guns and if they play with such consistency and intensity,sure india is going to be unbeatable soon.Lets hope for that to happen and we wish India a good luck for the deciding final test match and for their matches in the future.
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