Harbhajan Singh bagged four quick wickets in a magnificent spell to put Sri Lanka under pressure in the second Test against India yesterday.
The off-spinner (4-71) removed well-set Kumar Sangakkara and Malinda Warnapura in successive overs before Sri Lanka struggled to reach 215-5 in their first innings at stumps in reply to India’s 329 on the second day.
Sangakkara (68) and Warnapura (66) helped Sri Lanka overcome the third-ball dismissal of Michael Vandort with a 133-run stand for the second wicket before Harbhajan struck to restore India’s fortunes on a spinners’ day.
PHOTO: AP
Skipper Mahela Jayawardene was unbeaten on 46 and Prasanna Jayawardene on five not out at the close of play.
“We are in a good position to control the match tomorrow,” Harbhajan said. We have to repeat our performance, take catches and bowl in the right areas as we did today. If we take a couple of early wickets, the tail will start. We are happy with our efforts today, but it would have been nice to get more runs in the first innings.”
India were bowled out on the stroke of lunch after resuming at 214-4, with explosive opener Virender Sehwag (201 not out) becoming only the second Indian after Sunil Gavaskar to carry his bat through the innings.
Sehwag also became the 10th Indian to complete 5,000 Test runs during his fifth score of 200 and more, including two triple-centuries. He hit four sixes and 22 fours in his 231-ball knock.
The Indian batsmen, especially Sehwag, were involved in an engrossing duel with Sri Lanka’s unorthodox spinner Ajantha Mendis (6-117), who took a maiden haul of five or more wickets in an innings in only his second Test.
Sri Lanka then got a dose of their own medicine as they were jolted by Harbhajan, who had Warnapura caught by Gautam Gambhir at short point and then held a return catch to account for Sangakkara.
Sri Lanka lead 1-0 in the three-Test series after winning the opening match by an innings and 239 runs in Colombo.
TO THE TOP: After securing the international title on Saturday, Team Taiwan were to face Las Vegas to potentially win their 18th Little League World Series championship A team from Taipei’s Dong Yuan Elementary School won the Little League Baseball World Series’ international title on Saturday by defeating Aruba 1-0 in the annual baseball tournament held in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The Taiwan team, competing under the name Chinese Taipei, were after press time last night to face a team from Las Vegas, Nevada, which beat a team from Fairfield, Connecticut, in the US championship 8-2. Taiwan are seeking to win their first Little League Baseball World Series title since 1996. “Really haven’t taken a moment to data dump right now on Taiwan,” Nevada manager T.J. Fescher said. “They’re a
‘CATASTROPHE’: Despite losing several key forwards in the summer transfer window, Bayern were up 3-0 in the first half before Harry Kane scored a hat-trick in the second Harry Kane hit a hat-trick, Michael Olise a double and newcomer Luis Diaz also scored as Bayern Munich made a “statement” against RB Leipzig 6-0 at home in the Bundesliga season opener on Friday. Bayern’s big-money arrivals, all brought in from the Premier League across the past three seasons, were dominant as the Bavarians begun their title defense in style. Olise scored twice in the first half, either side of a Diaz strike. Not to be outdone, Kane scored three goals in the second half — with two assists coming from Diaz, to bring Bayern’s total to 6-0. Kane told the Bundesliga
Kevin de Bruyne is to lead SSC Napoli’s Serie A title defense today when he makes his full debut at promoted US Sassuolo, but the champions head into the new season rocked by a long-term injury to star striker Romelu Lukaku. De Bruyne was, alongside aging icon Luka Modric, the big new name to arrive in Italy this summer and fans were hoping his linkup with Belgium teammate Lukaku would push Napoli to success both at home and in their return to the UEFA Champions League. The 34-year-old has suffered from hamstring injuries which caused him to miss significant chunks of the
Marc Marquez continued his winning streak as he cruised to victory in the Hungarian GP sprint by two seconds on Saturday night to pad his championship lead. It was a seventh straight Sprint victory for the Spaniard, who has also won the last six longer Sunday grand prix races on his factory Ducati. Fabio Di Giannantonio, an Italian with the VR46 Ducati satellite team was a distant second at Balaton Park, followed by his team-mate and compatriot Franco Morbidelli third. Marquez, a six-time world champion, started the race from pole position. “I felt someone really close on the first corner, from there I
RSS