http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 v India, 1st Test at Galle, Day Four: Plays of the day
Sri Lanka were firmly in control of the first Test match by the time the stumps were drawn on the fourth day of the Galle game. Here are the plays that defined the day:
Soft Sehwag dismissals?
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Virender-Sehwag-c95429’s wickets were two of those.
Sehwag may have got to an amazing century, but his manner of dismissal would have probably left everyone in the dressing room shaking their heads. Off a wide ball from Chanaka Welegedera, he tried to scoop the ball over the lone slip and only managed to give him a simple catch.
Sehwag repeated the same in the second innings of the same bowler. The only difference was that the scoop was replaced by a cut shot, which meant that the ball traveled quicker and went towards the gully instead of the slips, where Mahela Jayawardene dove to come up with an excellent catch. India was in big trouble.
Another Murali (P)fifer!
Muthiah Muralitharan’s announcement of retirement had not come as a major surprise to anybody following his career for the last couple of years. Muralitharan’s wicket-taking capability isn't completely gone but has diminished substantially. The fizz which he usually derived from the track while bowling those off-spinners began to be lacking and that meant that the batsmen had had an easy time getting rid of him.
However, it looked like he had reserved the best for his last game. He had scalped one wicket overnight, and that of Sachin Tendulkar, but on the fourth day he bowled so beautifully that even if the wickets had not come, it would have been acceptable. However, as it turned out, Muralitharan carved out four more wickets, including two of captain http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MS-Dhoni-c2028 and Yuvraj Singh, after both of them were set to get to big scores. Murali ended with 5/63 off his 17th and got his 67th five-wicket haul (fifer) in Test cricket.
Dhoni, Yuvi bamboozled:
What was the best thing about his dismissals was that Muralitharan got them in the traditional way that the off-spinners usually love getting their wickets. Dhoni was beaten, neck and crop off a ball that pitched outside off and spun so viciously that one could almost hear the whizz. Singh wanted to defend it, but only managed to nick it to Mahela Jayawardene in the slips.
Where was Malinga?
After Muralitharan, Lasith Malinga was the best bowler on display for the Sri Lankans. He swung the ball around, and ensured that the Indians were kept on a tight leash. Almost every Indian batsman struggled against him in the first innings and though he had only two wickets to his name, he was a difficult bowler to face up to.
Yet, in the second innings, when Tendulkar and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Rahul-c83321 Dravid were batting so beautifully, and the Lankans had already bowled 50 overs in the innings, Malinga had bowled only five of those!
As if to prove the point, Malinga came back and in the next four overs that he bowled, he scalped the wickets of both Tendulkar and Dravid to not only end the threatening partnership but also break the backs and the morale of the Indian side. Earlier, at the start of the day, Kumar Sangakkara had taken a lot of time in getting Muralitharan on as well, and that had probably cost him some runs.
Despite what is looking like a sure-shot victory for the Sri Lankans, Sangakkara did not seem to have his fingers on the button all the time!
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