Posts Tagged ‘India vs Sri Lanka 1st Test highlights’

India vs Sri Lanka 2nd Test Day 2 Live Streaming, Ind vs Sl

Watch India vs Sri Lanka 2nd test day 2 live streaming from Green Park, Kanpur on 25th Dec at 04:00 GMT. Sehwag and Ghambir made this 2nd test day 1 as like ODI. They maintain the average of over 5 when they were in crease. Both of them scores century and Dravis also scores 85 not out.

India vs Sri Lanka 2nd Test Live Streaming

India vs Sri Lanka 2nd Test Day 2 Live Streaming

On a day like this stat-freaks were bound to have a field day: It was the first time India scored over 400 in a day, it was the highest opening partnership between Gambhir and Sehwag, and even, Muralitharan, at one point, was leaking at over 6 runs per over.

The most telling statistic was the spinners’ figures. Sri Lanka had managed to keep the scoring rate down with the new ball but things went pear-shaped for them after the spinners were introduced, with Sehwag and Gambhir looting 73 runs off nine overs before lunch and little changing after the break. They weren’t allowed to settle at all by the openers who lashed out at them with a calculated fury that was breathtaking to watch.

Gambhir went after Herath in his first over, hitting him for three boundaries: He whipped through covers, cut past point and stepped out to loft to the straight boundary. When Herath returned later, Gambhir went repeatedly down the track to drive him to distraction. If Gambhir reserved the best of his aggression for Herath, Sehwag went after Mendis in the first session and took care of Muralitharan in the second. Mendis floated a full toss, offered a long-hop and slid one down the leg side in his first spell and Sehwag sent each one to the boundary. The attacking spirit was best seen in the last over before lunch when Sehwag launched an offbreak from Mendis high over long-on. That aggression continued post lunch with Sehwag collecting five boundaries against Muralitharan: Two fierce off drives, an inside-edge, and a tuck to fine-leg boundary which brought up his hundred. He fell to Muralitharan though, against the run of play, trying to play an inside-out cover drive to a length delivery but failing to clear cover.

What facilitated India’s dominance was the clarity of thought in the approach by all the batsmen. Gambhir paced himself superbly; he knew if he played out the new ball, he could then indulge himself against the spinners on a first-day track. There were couple of occasions when he hung his bat out to the new ball and was seen immediately reprimanding himself. Gambhir had different approaches to the spinners: He stepped out often against Herath, used his crease well against Muralitharan, going either well back or stretching forward, and worked the angles against Ajantha Mendis. There were several delightful late cuts that showcased his skill but what etched in the memory was a gorgeous, almost nonchalant, straight drive off Muralitharan. He fell, beaten by the dip and scooping a return catch to Muralitharan who flew to his right to pull off a difficult chance.

Dravid was decisive in everything he did right from the start. When he defended he showed the full face of bat and deployed soft hands and when he chose to attack, he either stretched well forward to drive inside-out or rocked right back to punch through the off side. There were many skilful punches on the back foot but what stood out was a gorgeous inside-out extra-cover drive off Muralitharan.

However, the most interesting of the three knocks was that of Sehwag’s. It seemed as though he was waging a battle against himself initially. He chased his third ball – a wide delivery from Welegedera – and edged it but was dropped when Prasanna Jayawardene dived across and distracted Mahela Jayawardene at first slip. Sehwag then tried to go hard at Angelo Mathews a couple of times and was beaten. It was the make or break moment: he was either going to combust from impatience or would change tack and be more watchful. He chose the latter route and started to play defensively with the full face of the bat and as close to the body as possible. That his first boundary came only off the 27th delivery he faced said much about his mindset. There were many typical forceful hits but what caught his spirit today was a delicate late steer to third man boundary off Welegedera when he waited on the front foot before opening the bat-face at the last minute to get it between gully and the slip cordon.

The presence of three spinners and just one frontline seamer was always going to pose problems for Sri Lanka after they lost the toss. The early results are there for all to see and it’s India’s Test to lose from here on.

Watch India vs Sri Lanka 1st Test Live Streaming

Watch India (Ind) vs Sri Lanka (Sl) 1st Test live streaming, live score & highlights free. Match scheduled to begin at 09:30 local time (04:00 GMT) on 16th Nov 2009 from Ahmedabad.

Watch India vs Sri Lanka 1st Test Live Streaming

Watch India vs Sri Lanka Live Streaming

Rahul Dravid played as purposefully as he has ever done in Test cricket to lead India’s comeback from 32 for 4 in the first half hour. Along the way, he got involved in his 77th 100-run partnership, a world record, came seven short of passing Steve Waugh to become the fifth-highest run-getter in Tests, and also undid the superb start that two rookies provided Sri Lanka with. Chanaka Welegedara and Dammika Prasad – four Tests and 15 wickets between them – were not even supposed to play this match but pair combined to give India flashbacks of their previous Test in Ahmedabad, when they were shot out for 76 by South Africa.

Test cricket it might be, but it rattled along at a breathtaking pace and refused to slow even with wickets falling. Even when Dravid and Yuvraj Singh hurtled along during their 125-run stand, Kumar Sangakkara kept attacking fields in. The start that he got allowed him to do so.

The first day of the Test season got off to an unusual start too: Welegedara, in the side for an injured Nuwan Kulasekara, attacked Gautam Gambhir’s stumps, who blocked and ran, and Virender Sehwag caressed the next delivery through the covers. Another boundary came in the next over, and it started looking ominous for Sri Lanka.

But Welegedara had got the ball to swing, and it played on Gambhir’s mind when he poked almost outside the line of a straight delivery and played it on. Sehwag continued attacking and succeeding until Welegedara produced a perfect inswinger; the umpire Tony Hill adjudged a perfect lbw decision, ruling that the ball hit the pad first and in front of middle and off.

Out came Sachin Tendulkar, 20 years and a day old in international cricket, at 27 for 2. Out came a perfect cover-drive first ball. And out went Tendulkar, at 31 for 3, having played outside the line of a ball that slightly held its line. Prasad got into action soon when VVS Laxman dragged one on, playing away from the body and done in by slight inward movement.

All four wickets came attacking the stumps and Sri Lanka continued doing just that. Dravid and Yuvraj, having realised this wasn’t a beast to bat on, counterattacked. Dravid got going through late clips off his pads, Yuvraj through a thick edge past gully. Immediately, though, Yuvraj corrected it with a picture-perfect cover-drive. Sangakkara perhaps missed a trick by introducing Angelo Mathews before Muttiah Muralitharan, and both Yuvraj and Dravid enjoyed the gentle pace and length balling. A couple of classy shots from Dravid later, the two had added 34 in 32 deliveries even before Murali was introduced.

Yuvraj faced the first over from Murali. The high back lift kept everybody interested, but he showed good judgement of the topspinner and regular offbreak. Driving through the line looked easy while the two were at it. Rangana Herath – playing ahead of Ajantha Mendis – was taken for a six by Dravid and a four by Yuvraj when he was introduced about 20 minutes before lunch.

Post lunch, too, the duo kept attacking. Dravid saw off Welegedara’s swing with three boundaries in one over that summed up how well he played. One of the them was clipped late, to the right of midwicket, the next was cover-driven all along the ground, and the third flicked to the left of midwicket – all despite the swing. The first one of those brought up his fifty in 79 balls, outscoring Yuvraj.

Yuvraj’s innings wasn’t as spotless, despite three high-elbow off-drives for the photo album. Prasad, in his later spells either side of lunch, found his body with bouncers. Yuvraj bottom-edged a pull for four, upper-cut over slips for another, but then made his first outright mistake in Murali’s next over, the bowler’s seventh. He stepped out, saw he was beaten in the flight, but as opposed to thrusting his pad forward, he presented it both bat and pad.

That wicket gone, Dravid and MS Dhoni came hard at Sri Lanka again. Outstanding were two drives from Dravid against Murali: one against the spin through extra cover, the other straight down the ground. By tea, the two had added 64 and Dravid had survived his first error: edging a doosra just short of first slip.