KANPUR, Nov 27: A dominant India took one-and-half sessions to complete the formalities and spank Sri Lanka by an innings and 144 runs in the second Test to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
This turned out to be India’s 100th Test victory in their 432nd outing.
The visitors began 57 for four and did their best to delay the inevitable before the Indians polished off the remnants of the Lankan resistance to complete a facile win with more than four sessions to spare.
Sri Lankans, who managed 229 in the first innings, did slightly better in their second essay, folding for 269.
India thus became the sixth nation to win 100 Test matches, following Australia (332), England (310), West Indies (152), South Africa (120) and Pakistan (102).
This was also India’s biggest victory margin against the Lankans, in terms of innings. The previous mark was their thrashing of the islanders by an innings and 119 runs in the 1994 Lucknow Test.
With six wickets separating the Lankans from a defeat and two full days at India’s disposal, the islanders’ capitulation was just a matter of time and the four wickets they lost in the morning session only hastened their end.
Thilan Samaraweera (78 not out) and Ajantha Mendis (27) did resist the Indians for nearly 20 overs with a gritty 73-run stand but it was too little and merely a footnote in the context of the match.
Both the teams now move to Mumbai for the third and final Test starting from December 2.
Sri Lanka’s distant hopes of stretching the match into its final day were in tatters in the morning session itself when they lost four wickets to expose their lower half.
Realising the futility of grafting, overnight batsmen Angelo Mathews (15) decided to counter-attack and chose out-of-rhythm Zaheer Khan for the treatment.
Zaheer’s overpitched first ball of the day was driven down the ground, his second — a no ball — was pulled to the fence with ferocity and his third — again a no ball — scorched the cover area grass before crossing the rope.
Two balls later, Zaheer had the score settled. The left-arm seamer banged it short and Mathews’ pull was a little premature. Rahul Dravid rushed from gully to pouch the top edge.
Mathews’ exit meant the collective contribution of the Sri Lankan top order read a pathetic 79.
Prasanna Jayawardene (29) and Samaraweera batted positively, scoring at a brisk rate while not doing anything silly.
Samaraweera hit Sreesanth for three boundaries in the same over to assert himself, while Prasanna was not quiet either.
The Sri Lankan stumper-batsman drove Zaheer, pulled Sreesanth and swept Pragyan Ojha with elan but looked ill at ease against Harbhajan Singh.
Two streaky boundaries off Harbhajan exposed his discomfiture against the offie and the spinner finally pushed one through the gate to rearrange the timbers to snap the sixth wicket stand that yielded 61 runs for the beleaguered islanders.
Rangana Herath (13) hit Harbhajan for back-to-back boundaries before the offie trapped him plumb in front.
Muttiah Muralitharan played a typical entertaining 11-ball knock of 29. The first three balls he faced, from Harbhajan, were hit for 6,4,4. The first one cleared long on ropes and the next two went over mid-wicket.
Muralitharan then went after Ojha, hitting him over long on for his second six but completely missed the line as the next delivery pegged back the stumps.
Samaraweera and Mendis, who hit a career-best 27, however, refused to throw in the towel and dug their heels to frustrate the Indian players for about 20 overs.
The fact that the intensity of the Indians sagged after three days of dominance also helped their cause.
Mendis survived 74 balls before the 75th, sent down by Yuvraj Singh, trapped him in front of wicket to snap the 73-run stand. Ojha then caught Chanaka Welegedara (4) off his own bowling to complete the win.
Scorecard
India: first innings 642 all out
Sri Lanka: first innings 229 all out
Sri Lanka second innings (Overnight 57/4):
Tharanga Paranavitana lbw b Sehwag 20; Tillakaratne Dilshan c Dhoni b Sreesanth 11; Kumara Sangakkara b Harbhajan Singh 11; Mahela Jayawardene run out (Yuvraj Singh/Dhoni) 10; Thilan Samaraweera not out 78; Angelo Mathews c Dravid b Khan 15; Prasanna Jayawardene b Harbhajan 29; Rangana Herath lbw b Harbhajan 13; Muttiah Muralitharan b Ojha 29; Ajantha Mendis lbw Yuvraj 27; Chanaka Welegedara c&b Ojha 4
Extras (b 7, lb 1, nb 14) 22
Total (for 10 wickets in 65.3 overs) 269
Fall of wickets 1-13 (Dilshan, 3.3 ov), 2-37 (Paranavitana, 10.5), 3-54 (Mahela Jayawardene, 18.3), 4-54 (Sangakkara, 19.1), 5-79 (Mathews, 24.4), 6-140 (Prasanna Jayawardene, 37.5), 7-154 (Herath, 41.2), 8-191 (Muralitharan, 44.5), 9-264 (Mendis, 64.2 ov)
Bowling: Zaheer Khan 11-0-63-1 Shanthakumaran Sreesanth 11-4-47-1 Harbhajan Singh 22-2-98-3 Virender Sehwag 3-0-4-1 Pragyan Ojha 15.3-4-36-2 Sachin Tendulkar 1-0-6-0 Yuvraj Singh 2-0-7-1 (PTI)
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