Sreesanth gives India total control
Friday, 27 November 2009
Indian cricket's prodigal son Sreesanth returned to international cricket in style with a five-for, and six wickets overall, to leave Sri Lanka staring at defeat in the second Test in Kanpur. Sri Lanka, forced to follow on after tea, were tottering in the second innings still 356 runs adrift with six wickets standing, according to website cricinfo.
Though India's spinners and Sri Lanka's batsmen - the senior-most duo contrived a run-out while following on - contributed to the collapse, most of the work was done by Sreesanth, playing his first international game in 19 months.
For nine successive overs in the first session, and for seven on the trot in the second, he ran in hard, hit the deck and found life in a slow pitch. He led the way in the second innings too, removing Tillakaratne Dilshan with a leg cutter, before Sri Lanka started to disintegrate against spin.
However, the decisive moment of the collapse, and something that exposed the visitors' mindset, was the run-out of Mahela, the first-innings top scorer.
Sri Lanka 229 (Mahela 47, Sangakkara 44, Sreesanth 5-75) and 57 for 4 (Samaraweera 1*, Mathews 2*) trail India 642 (Gambhir 167, Dravid 144, Sehwag 137, Herath 5-121) by 356 runs
Though India's spinners and Sri Lanka's batsmen - the senior-most duo contrived a run-out while following on - contributed to the collapse, most of the work was done by Sreesanth, playing his first international game in 19 months.
For nine successive overs in the first session, and for seven on the trot in the second, he ran in hard, hit the deck and found life in a slow pitch. He led the way in the second innings too, removing Tillakaratne Dilshan with a leg cutter, before Sri Lanka started to disintegrate against spin.
However, the decisive moment of the collapse, and something that exposed the visitors' mindset, was the run-out of Mahela, the first-innings top scorer.
Sri Lanka 229 (Mahela 47, Sangakkara 44, Sreesanth 5-75) and 57 for 4 (Samaraweera 1*, Mathews 2*) trail India 642 (Gambhir 167, Dravid 144, Sehwag 137, Herath 5-121) by 356 runs