Gautam Gambhir made 114 and Sachin Tendulkar hit an unbeaten 100 as India batted out the final day to draw the first Test against Sri Lanka yesterday.
India easily wiped out a huge first innings deficit of 334 runs as they scored 412-4 in their second knock, before the high-scoring Test was called off with six overs remaining on the fifth day.
Tendulkar, 36, set a new benchmark of 30,000 international runs at the start of his third decade in the game to frustrate Sri Lanka’s bid to win their first Test on Indian soil.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Tendulkar, who smashed his 43rd Test century, put on 66 for the fourth wicket with Gambhir and 137 for the unbroken fifth with Venkatsai Laxman, who made 51 not out.
Sri Lanka’s bowlers struggled to cope with the batsman-friendly pitch on which 1,598 runs were scored at the cost of just 21 wickets over the five days of the Test.
World bowling record holder Muttiah Muralitharan failed to take a wicket in 38 overs that cost 124 runs and left-arm spinner Rangana Herath went 2-97 in 40 overs.
Tendulkar, the world’s leading Test and one-day international scorer, completed 30,000 runs on the world stage when he turned Chanaka Welegedara to square-leg for a single to reach 35 after lunch.
Gambhir’s seventh Test century was the third in successive matches this year after making 137 in Napier and 167 in Wellington on India’s tour of New Zealand in March and April.
The Delhi opener kept vigil for 6 hours, 37 minutes until he attempted to loft Herath soon after lunch and holed out to mid-off.
Nightwatchman Amit Mishra, who came in at the fall of Rahul Dravid’s wicket on Thursday evening, batted for 45 minutes in the morning session before falling to a brilliant catch by Tillakaratne Dilshan. Dilshan, who had floored a sharp chance off Mishra in the slips earlier in the day, dived to his right at leg-gully to pick up a low catch as the batsman flicked seamer Angelo Mathews.
Tendulkar, who was dismissed for 4 in the first innings, appeared determined to play a big knock when he hit four boundaries in his first 17 runs.
He punched Mathews through the covers, took two boundaries in the same region in one over from Muttiah Muralitharan, before smashing Mathews to the point fence.
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