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Lanka cruising along on day two

India 518/7 declared, Sri Lanka 121/2

Much was written, in the media this morning, about Arjuna Ranatunga's 'goof' in putting India in on a sleeping beauty of a track.

That analysis seems to miss the real point -- the bowlers, and not Ranatunga, were the real culprits on day one, bowling way too short to utilise the life on a well-grassed track.

The morning of the second day saw a dramatic change in mindset, with both Vaas and Perera pitching a very full length, and immediately getting the ball to seam around. Vaas struck a huge blow for Sri Lanka when, off the very first ball of the morning, he slanted one across Tendulkar on a fullish length, drawing the batsman forward. Tendulkar played with bat away from body, got the regulation edge and Kaluwitharana did the rest. A huge wicket that -- if Tendulkar had batted this morning in the same vein as last evening, a mammoth total in very quick time seemed very much on the cards.

Batting suddenly seemed a difficult art, in complete contrast to day one when Ramesh, Dravid and Tendulkar invited themselves to a party.

What the evidence of the first hour of the morning session indicated was that there was sufficient life in the track for bowlers prepared to pitch it up and bring the batsmen forward -- and that should interest the Indian bowlers, with a sufficient total to bowl against.

Mohammad Azharuddin, in company of Saurav Ganguly, took India to the 400 mark, the runs coming off 662 deliveries which makes for a more than fair run rate. His stay at the crease this morning wasn't all power-packed square cuts, though -- twice, Vaas had him reaching, to find the edge and see the ball fall short of the slips. Hathurasinghe then fed him outside off and had him slashing into the hands of point -- only, the umpire had called the no ball. Kaluwitharana then made a bit of a meal of a run out opportunity, Azhar playing to cover and taking off like a rocket for a run that really didn't exist, the throw coming back and finding the batsman not even in the frame, but Kalu, scrambling to collect, let it through and Azhar survived.

He also got to his 21st 50 in Tests, to go with 21 100s -- a superlative conversion rate that, meaning that every second 50 in his career has been parlayed into a big one.

At the other end, Ganguly took his own time to settle, looking distinctly uncomfortable against both Vaas and Perera. However, Lanka does have a problem with its support bowlers -- and the arrival of Hathurasinghe and Upasantha took the pressure off the batsmen.

At lunch, India were 424/4, having added 71 runs off 25 overs in the morning session for the loss of Tendulkar's wicket. Azhar was batting 59, and Ganguly 28.

The objective, post lunch, would be for India to bat on, looking to put up enough runs on the board to ensure that the pressure can be turned on the home side, with a view to getting the Lankan lineup out twice and force the outright win. That is going to be a tough ask with an attack missing Srinath and Agarkar, which makes it imperative that the two batsmen at the crease carry on towards a huge score.

However, this is also a game of bonus points, and any analysis would need to look at that aspect.

India has gained all four possible points with the bat, by getting to 350 in under the 100 over mark. Sri Lanka, for its part, managed just one, having got only four wickets in the same number of overs. So at this point, India are well ahead of the Lankans. However, the Lankan innings will open up another eight points to be had -- four for the batting side, and four for the bowling side. With Lanka having one more game to play, the onus is on India to ensure that Lanka don't get too many with the bat, while India concentrates on trying for the maximum with the ball.

Either way, the way Azhar and Ganguly bat in the afternoon will hold the key to India's fortunes in this match.

Post lunch session

The way the Lankans play Test cricket reminds you of a chappie who is afraid of the cold, and finds himself forced to take a swim in mid-December. That gingery way he approaches the pool, the extreme hesitation with which one toe is pushed towards the water to test the temperature -- that image, frankly, encapsulates Lanka in the Test arena.

Their performance after lunch was the perfect indication of this. The bowling side needed wickets so what do they do? They toss the ball to Chaminda Vaas, bowling him with a single slip first up after lunch. And the second over is bowled by Russel Arnold -- whose dearest friends wouldn't hold out the hope that he is going to be the next spinning sensation.

With the field matching the defensiveness of the bowling, the Indians had to try really hard to get themselves out. Ganguly looked a touch out of sorts, with nothing in the bowling to justify that feeling. Azhar (who, like Ganguly, got a century on this pitch the last time the Indians played a Test here) meanwhile seemed inclined to just cut out all the frills and swing for the sidelines -- a mindset that got him to 87 off 161 deliveries before he tried, once too often, to launch Arnold over the top.

Azhar had done that off the first ball of that over, lifting him one bounce into the long off fence. This time, he went the other way, wide of long on -- and Hathurasinghe ran a long way to his right, then dived sideways, headlong, to pluck the ball millimeters off the grass, a blinder of a catch to end an innings in which the Indian skipper was obviously trying to put the rough ride against the Pakistan pacemen behind him.

That brought Mongia and Ganguly together -- and the latter began finding his touch again, racing to his 50 (off 112 deliveries) with three boundaries on the trot off Arnold, all of them splitting the off side field as the part time off spinner went round the wicket to the left-hander with a packed field on that side of the wicket.

Mongia for his part worked the ball around, looking for the singles, letting his senior partner do the hard work.

The introduction of Mahela Jayawardene into the attack changed the tempo. The part time offspinner, unlike Arnold, bowls very flat, pushing the ball through and keeping it tight on the stumps, making run-scoring a pretty difficult job. Upasantha chipped in with a couple of maiden overs, and Ganguly's impatience did the rest, as he played a loose drive away from his body to a slanting delivery from Upasantha, for Ruwan Kalpage, substituting, to fly through the air at cover and pull off a blinder.

This meant that five of the top six batsmen had got past the half century mark. It also meant that three batsmen had got good starts and failed to convert into the big ones that were there to be taken.

The Kumble-Mongia partnership, which took India past the 500 mark, proved adventurous, especially in the matter of running between the wickets. The former can count himself lucky that the on-field umpire, after getting into perfect position, was affected by a touch of blindness -- on a tight run, with the score on 497, Kumble's bat was a good two inches short of the crease when the stumps were broken, but the decision went for the batsman.

The partnership ended when Mongia, whose bustle at the wicket made one wonder if a declaration were imminent, clubbed a floated delivery from Arnold straight to mid off. The dismissal also signalled tea, at 518/7 (19 short of India's highest in Lanka, 537/8 declared at the Premadasa Stadium on the 1997-'98 tour).

That meant that 94 runs had been scored in 27.5 overs after the lunch break.

During the break, skipper Mohammad Azharuddin declared the Indian innings closed. One aspect that was puzzling was why, if a declaration was in the works, the rate of run-scoring in the session after lunch was so relatively pedestrian -- there was no real push to get runs quick, and that seemed a touch strange. The explanation, of course, could be that the declaration was a spur of the moment thing, after Mongia's dismissal.

This meant that Sri Lanka will face a maximum of 35 overs during the final session of play on the day -- and for Indians, a full length and line, a tight, attacking field would appear the optimal strategy as they seek quick wickets.

Post-tea session

The immediate points of interest, in the first hour after tea, revolved around two questions: one, the bowling of debutant Ashish Nehra, and two, the attitude of the Indians in the field.

To take the second point first, Azharuddin, who has come in for trenchant criticism by this reporter among others for an often inexplicably defensive mindset during the recent series against Pakistan, got his act together here in his initial field setting. Both opening bowlers, Prasad and Nehra, got attacking fields, with three slips and a gully, plus a short square, for the former; two slips, gully, short square and a leg slip for the latter.

Now for Nehra's bowling, and this assessment comes with the caution that one spell does not constitute evidence, merely an indication: the left arm seamer bowls from a diagonal runup, its trajectory vaguely reminiscent of Malcolm Marshall's approach. While he seems a tad tight in the early part of his runup, his approach is very fluid, moving into an easy delivery stride, back very straight, getting the arm up high at the time of delivery -- the kind of bowler who naturally hits the deck.

He has a fair nip -- quicker than Prasad (which admittedly isnt saying much), definitely slower than Agarkar and Dodda Ganesh and about on par with Mohanty. Hitting the deck also produces good bounce for the left arm seamer, the ball carrying nicely to the keeper. A plus is that he has a natural inswinger that comes in late -- and it was this delivery that got him his first Test wicket.

Marvan Atapattu, opening in place of Sanath Jayasuriya, tends to be a touch crease bound. Nehra pitched the ball right up, made it swing in late and beat the batsman for both pace and movement, to beat the bat and take the back pad in front of middle and leg, umpire Rudi Koertzen having no problems giving the decision.

Prasad produced the odd late-seaming leg cutter that is his trademark, but in his first spell tended to pitch a bit shorter than the ideal length, with the result that he went for runs (22, off his first 4). Nehra, by contrast, pitched a whole heap further up, and looked more impressive with the new ball.

Russel Arnold, who has been touted as a prospect for quite a while now, looked compact and organised at the crease, but it is Mahela Jayawardene, coming in at number three, who impressed with the ease of his footwork and the fluency of his strokeplay on either side of the track. A player in the typical Lankan mould, Jayawardene comes across as a natural strokeplayer, playing positively off either foot and hitting through the line with a nice pick up and full follow through.

Anil Kumble was brought on as early as over number 11, with three round the bat. And Harbhajan made it to the bowling crease not too long after.

Dravid -- and not for the first time either -- came up with a spectacular run out to effect the breakthrough.

Russel Arnold looked very uncomfortable against the two spinners, and was constantly looking to push the single and get to the non-striker's end. One such push, hard into the ground, saw Dravid grasp the rebound reflexively at silly point, quickly transfer to his right and, in a moment of casual brilliance, backhand the throw onto the stumps leaving Arnold, who had taken a couple of steps out of the crease in anticipation of the single, stranded.

There were a few other alarms for the batting side, in the final session of play. At 55/1, Kumble kicked one up off a length, Jaywardene was committed towards playing the ball off his hips, and ended up getting it high on the bat. Laxman at short square anticipated very well, got both hands to the sharp chance, juggled with it and grassed it.

At 84/1, Jayawardene aimed a huge pull at Harbhajan, whom he had hit for a six over midwicket in the previous over. The ball turned, hit the back pad on the inside with the batsman on the back foot, the strike being on line of middle and leg, and umpire Rudi Koertzen, surprisingly, found some doubt to give the batsman the benefit of.

The Lankan 100 came up in the 31st over. Later in the same over, Jayawardene danced down to lift Harbhajan over midwicket for four to bring up his 50, off 75 deliveries -- a knock studded with nine fours and a six, not to mention the let offs by Laxman and Koertzen respectively. Lives or no, the young right hander looks a very impressive prospect for Lanka, one of the young talents that country has been seeking to fill vacancies left by the ageing superstars.

Talking of ageing superstars, Hathurasinghe, who preceeded Aravinda D'Silva to the crease, is into his second innings for the team. The former opener still looks a compact player, especially fluent off the front foot -- but not the kind to dominate, his recall another indication of how starved Lanka, at this point, is for young talent.

Azhar made some good bowling changes late in the day, bringing on Tendulkar with just three overs to go, and and letting Nehra have a late burst of two overs at the Lankans, in an attempt to force the mistakes. Interestingly, for the last over, Azhar also gave Nehra a very packed close cordon, with almost all fielders crowded round the bat -- good positive cricket, and a very visible change from his mindset against Pakistan in the recent Test series.

Jayawardene and Hathurasinghe saw Lanka through to stumps, Lanka having added 121 runs off 37 overs in the post-tea session.

Keep an eye on the bonus points situation here. Lanka will get one, definitely, when it touches 150 well within the 100 over mark. Another point is a certainity because, unless there is a dramatic collapse, the Lankans should be favoured to go to 225 inside that same number of overs. What India can look at is to deny the Lankans the third and fourth bonus points, which are acquired when the team touches 300 and 350 respectively, inside 100 overs -- admittedly a tough ask with Aravinda, Arjuna Ranatunga, Tillekeratne and Kaluwitharana to follow, but the Indians will need to do it since, unless there is an outright result, points are going to dictate the identity of the second finalist and India has no more league games to play. (Obviously, India also stand to gain two or three bonus points if it can get more wickets inside thee 100-over mark).

Scoreboard