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Ramesh, Dravid on song

For the copywriters, it was Mr Cool and Mr Reliable on duty for India, taking the side through to an impressive score on the opening day at the Sinhalese Sports Club ground -- with Mr Explosive showing signs of an imminent explosion at close.

Arjuna Ranatunga has of late been sporting a Zapata-style moustache which would make a Mexican bandido proud. He was, however, missing a few shells in his shotgun on day one of the second Test of the Asian Test Championship, featuring India and Sri Lanka.

The Sri Lankan skipper won the toss and elected to field first. No surprise, that -- there was enough grass on the Sinhalese Sports Club ground to make any passing cow imagine that a buffet had been laid out for it, so the insertion was on. K T Francis, with 17 years of umpiring in Sri Lanka on his curriculum vitae, said on seeing the strip that he had never ever seen a pitch with so much grass on it in his native country.

The Lankans, missing the services of players like Sanath Jayasuriya, Nuwan Zoysa, Ravindra Pushpakumara and Muthiah Muralitharan, went in with a lineup that had a makeshift feel to it. And surprisingly, a predominantly seam-based attack, with two rookie medium pacers in Ruchira Perera and Eric Upashanta in support of seasoned frontman Chaminda Vaas and the part-time seamup stuff of one-time opener Hathurasinghe.

India went in with a lineup unchanged except for left arm medium pacer Ashish Nehra, who got the nod ahead of Bengal all-rounder Laxmi Ratan Shukla for the slot left vacant by Javagal Srinath (who, you can't help but think, would have been lethal on this track -- but then again, if Srinath were in the lineup, it is doubtful if a track of this kind would have been presented to him.)

Nehra's inclusion does raise an eyebrow or two. The lad could do very well, for all any of us know -- but logic would seem to dictate that having made Shukla a member of the squad against Pakistan, having had him with the team for three Tests, he could have been blooded here. This way, the signal you are sending the teenager appears to be that he is not considered good enough, yet -- that a player included only to fill in an injury-vacancy is better than him. And that is not the kind of signal that inspires confidence.

Ranatunga was looking to his medium pacers to exploit friendly conditions, but found them misfiring on all cylinders. Indian openers Laxman and Ramesh found no cause for alarm, with neither Vaas nor Perera pitching the ball up and looking for the movement off the seam. Perera appears to have fashioned himself on Vaas, in terms of bowling style. Upashanta, the third seamer, is a right armer, and not quite up there with the absent Pushpakumara in terms of pace, movement or line.

Laxman, with a fluent innings at the Gardens behind him, however fell in the eighth over, with his personal score on 11 and the team score on 20, when he played at a slanting delivery from Perera, his feet nailed in place, and bat a long way away from his body. The ball flew off the thick outside edge to third slip, and bounced out of his hand. Aravinda D'Silva at first slip, keeping his eye on the ball, dived behind second slip to take a brilliant slip catch on the rebound.

Sri Lanka appeared to lose complete control in the second hour of the morning. The bowling was sloppy, with all four seam bowlers guilty of bowling both sides of the wicket, negating the predominantly offside field set by Ranatunga. The fielding, too, was surprisingly shoddy, more so given the high standards the Lankans set themselves as a rule.

Both Dravid and Ramesh, fresh from coping with the pace of Akram, Younis and Akthar, seemed to find the easy medium pace of the Lankans very much to their liking. Watchful when the ball was anywhere in line of the stumps, the two played fluent drives, flicks and the occasional pull interspersed with good running between the wickets, to move the score along at a fair clip, taking the side to 95/1 off 24 overs during the morning session.

Post-lunch session

The best way to figure out what a team's form is like is to talk to a bookie. By the same token, the best way to rate a player is to look at his endorsements. By that yardstick, Ramesh appears to have arrived, and in quick time what's more. Three Tests into his career, and the Tamil Nadu southpaw is already sporting a sponsor on his bat -- Britannia.

Against an attack that appeared to have misplaced its dentures, Dravid started off the second session with a flurry of shots that took him to his 51 (off 63 balls) in the time that it took his partner to score two runs post lunch.

Dravid's biggest contribution was the way he handled Vaas, the only bowler who looked even remotely close to taking a wicket. At one stage, when the right hander had just got to his 50, he had played 27 deliveries of Vaas -- and got 23 runs from them.

Dravid then throttled back, and Ramesh took over, to notch up his fourth 50 in his 7th Test innings, this one coming off 81 deliveries with 6 fours. A pushed three down the straight field shortly after put up the 100 of the partnership, off just 159 deliveries, 14 boundaries studding that partnership.

The Lankans go into a Test looking not to lose, as opposed to actually looking to win, and that mindset was evident as the field became increasingly restrictive, defensive, in this session. The Indians countered by taking good singles, and rotating strike, giving the bowlers problems adjusting to the right-left combination.

With Dravid settling down for the long haul, Ramesh opened out into his trademark strokeplay, but as he entered his nineties, he appeared conscious of the imminent landmark that he had missed so narrowly in Calcutta. Dravid -- one man who knows a thing or two about getting out in the nineties -- was seen talking to the youngster constantly, seeing him through that nervous phase.

At tea, Ramesh was on 96, four short of his first Test century -- and a tad lucky to be there, what's more. The run out had always looked the only way Lanka would get one of these two out, and a dismissal seemed on the cards when Ramesh took off for a non-existent single off an on drive. Kaluwitharana however was a lifetime too late getting to the wickets to collect the throw, and the opener scrambled back into his crease.

89 runs were added off 29 overs in the session between lunch and tea, taken with the Indian score on 184/1. The side had also acquired one bonus point, for getting past the 150-mark well under the prescribed 100-over mark.

Post-tea session

Perhaps appropriately, an exquisite square drive off Perera, shortly after tea, got Ramesh to his maiden century -- appropriate because that shot, and the flick off his pads, are the gems in an extensive repertoire that covers both sides of the wicket with equal felicity. Immediately thereafter, the partnership touched the 174 mark -- the highest for India for the second wicket, beating the 173 between Gavaskar and Vengsarkar at Madras in 1982-'83.

Ramesh's innings ended in a fashion that, given his personality, was predictable. The southpaw does tend, every now and again, to get a touch lazy, too casual. And a lazy, tired-looking drive at a ball from part time spinner Mahela Jayawardene ended his innings, the ball floated right up into the popping crease and the left-hander, from around off stump, tapping it to Ranatunga at short cover to end a superlative knock of 143, off 213 deliveries, 18 of which went to the fence, his partnership for the second wicket with Dravid a mammoth 232.

The wicket fell minutes after the last drinks break of the day. Tendulkar, who spent 5 hours and a bit sitting in the pavilion with his pads and helmet on (the helmet a Tendulkar quirk, he prefers to put it on when he dons the rest of his equipment, then wears it during his wait for a turn at bat, no matter how long it takes), started off with a crisp square drive for four, off the second ball he faced.

With Tendulkar dealing in boundaries -- his first four scoring strokes found the fence -- Dravid got to his 5th Test century with a flick off the pads, getting to the landmark off 203 deliveries (152 dot balls, 29 singles, 11 fours -- in other words, a typical Dravid innings, patient defence and prompt putaways whenever the bowlers erred). Continuing his trend, this century, like the previous four, came on foreign soil.

However, he left soon after -- again a lapse in concentration evident, as he smashed a nothing ball from Hathurasinghe, outside off and going straight, to deep point where Ranatunga juggled thrice before finally hanging on to a straightforward catch, ending Dravid's innings on 107 with the Indians, at that stage, on 288/3.

With two relatively fresh batsmen -- Azhar and Tendulkar -- at the crease, Ranatunga took the new ball as soon as it became due. But in keeping with the defensive mindset that permeated the team the entire day, had just a slip in place for the first over with the new ball, for Ruchira Perera. The bowler responded with three full tosses, all of which found their way to the fence. Symptomatic, that, of Lanka's problems through the day -- 44 boundaries were scored in the day, and that reveals a lot about how ineffective the bowling was.

Tendulkar, throughout the recent series against Pakistan, had been missing out with the bat -- at times in unfortunate fashion. Here, he seemed determined to get his while the getting was good, and blazing strokeplay saw him race to his 51 off 51 deliveries with ten fours, also bringing up the 350 of the innings and collecting, for India, the full four bonus points to be gained with the bat.

At the other end, Azharuddin batted sensibly barring a couple of flashes, letting Tendulkar have his head while he held his end up. The post-tea session saw 167 runs being scored, off just 37 overs, at a very good rate of 4.5 per over.

Lanka's complete bankruptcy in the bowling department was evident in the fact that the part-time off-spin of opener Russel Arnold and middle order batsman Mahela Jaywardene looked the most impressive. Interestingly, the two spinners got big turn each time they tossed the ball right up, the seam getting a good grip on the grass -- which is something that should interest Harbhajan Singh, and even Anil Kumble since there was bounce as well.

This wicket is proving to be a bit of an enigma. There is pace and bounce, and seam movement, there for bowlers who know their art. But there is also turn, and quite sharp turn at that. And interestingly, towards close, puffs of dust were seen at certain spots when the ball landed. It's going to take a brave guy to predict just what this track will get up to in course of the remaining four days of play.

However, at stumps, India definitely looked to have the upper hand. Incidentally, India has only one Test win on foreign soil in 47 Tests played since 1986 -- and that came in 1993, on this same ground.

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