Sri Lanka struggling against India

Sri Lanka struggling against India

Sri Lanka were struggling at 57 for four in the second innings, after being asked to follow on, against India at the end of the third day's play in the second cricket Test at the Green Park stadium here Thursday.

At stumps, Thilan Samaraweera was batting on one and Angelo Matthews on two. Sri Lanka were asked to follow on after they were bowled out for 229 in the first innings in reply to India's 642.

Shanthakumaran Sreesanth celebrated his international comeback with a sensational five-wicket burst and India were on track to victory over Sri Lanka in the second cricket Test at Green Park Stadium here Thursday.

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India set target 642/10 after Tea in 2nd test Kanpur

India 642 (Gambhir 167, Dravid 144, Sehwag 137) v Sri Lanka 2nd Day after tea in 2nd Test.Rahul Dravid laid the platform with a serene, yet commanding, 144 before Yuvraj Singh and VVS Laxman hit fluent fifties to lead India to a position of immense strength in Kanpur. Rangana Herath bagged a five-for and brought some joy to the Sri Lankan camp by hastening the end of the Indian innings just after tea but the hosts were firmly in control of the Test and, with over three days to go, the result of the game will now depend on how the pitch behaves.

Till Herath introduced some drama into the game, it was a classic yawn-inducing Test afternoon: The pitch was benign, the sun was out, Sri Lanka were flattened and India were almost on auto-pilot with VVS Laxman and Yuvraj Singh cruising to half-centuries without breaking a sweat.

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India won the toss 1st test against Sri Lanka

MS Dhoni won the toss and chose to bat on a good, hard Ahmedabad pitch, The last Test that Dhoni referred to was the one against South Africa, when India were shot out for 76 on the first morning.

Dhoni also suggested his team would have to change the mental approach to batting, this Test coming after 17 continuous ODIs and five Twenty20s for them. The India XI, though, wore a settled look; Sreesanth and Pragyan Ojha sitting out, and as expected the two Tamil Nadu back-up batsmen not getting a look in.
Sri Lanka, even though they have played regular Test matches and risen to No. 2 in the rankings, were looking to win a Test in India for the first time. They started off on an unfortunate note: Nuwan Kulasekara and Thilan Thushara, their two successful fast bowlers, picked niggles and were not on the final list, neither was Ajantha Mendis. Dammika Prasad and Chanaka Welegedara, total experience of four Tests between them, were to take the new ball, and left-arm spinner Rangana Herath playing in place of Mendis.
India 1 Gautam Gambhir, 2 Virender Sehwag, 3 Rahul Dravid, 4 Sachin Tendulkar, 5 VVS Laxman, 6 Yuvraj Singh, 7 MS Dhoni (capt/wk), 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Zaheer Khan, 10 Ishant Sharma, 11 Amit Mishra.

Sri Lanka 1 Tharanga Paranavitana, 2 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (capt), 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Thilan Samaraweera, 6 Angelo Mathews, 7 Prasanna Jayawardene (wk), 8 Dammika Prasad, 9 Chanaka Welegedara, 10 Muttiah Muralitharan, 11 Rangana Herath.