http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 3rd Test Day One Lunch
The Indians got off to a good start on day one of the third and final test against the Sri Lankans at the P.Sara stadium in Colombo. But after losing an early wicket the hosts came back strongly with a healthy partnership between Tilakaratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara.
The tourists, who are in a must win situation, after conceding the first test match at Galle hit their straps early. As the centurion in the first two test matches Paranavitana nicked an outgoing delivery from http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ishant-Sharma-c64566 into the safe hands of Indian captain Mahindra Singh Dhoni behind the stumps, the left-hander scored only 8 runs in his 15-ball stay on the wicket.
Indians missed a golden opportunity to capture the prized scalp of the Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara. The left-handed skipper edged a ball from Mithun into the slips, where Suresh Raina dropped a simple chance as he lunged forward in front of the third slip http://www.senore.com/Cricket/VVS-Laxman-c2772.
Sangakkara was batting on 23 when the chance was floored by Raina. Soon afterwards Tilakaratne Dilshan and the Sri Lankan captain completed their fifty run partnership with the score reading 65.
Sangakkara and Dilshan took the score to 101 before Dilshan was run out by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Murali-Vijay-c78035 on the stroke of lunch. The opener scored 41.
The Southpaw Sangakkara on the other hand is not out on 48 he has hit a total of four boundaries and one six in his innings thus far.
Meanwhile, the toss was won by Kumar Sangakkara and he opted to take first use of the P.Sara wicket that offered more to the bowlers than the wickets for the first two tests in Galle and Colombo.
The Indians included leg-spinner Amit Mishra in place of the injured Harbhajan Singh who failed to recover in time for the match. While opener Gautam Ganbhir was also forced to miss out with an injury.
India’s master blaster and the highest run getter in test and One-Day International cricket Sachin Tendulkar added another feather to his cap as he became the most capped player in test history.
The third test is his 168th since his debut against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 at the National Stadium in Karachi in 1989.
During his 21-year career the batting legend has missed only 14 test matches for his country, which testifies his hunger for the game and the incredible penchant for runs.
Tags: