A century for Team India. And what a way to reach it!

The Kanpur wicket looked very flat on Day 1 and both captains knew that winning the toss could prove decisive. Dhoni was the luckier of the two captains and wasted no time in opting to bat on one of the flattest of wickets. India made full use of the flat wicket and went on to make 417 runs on the first day for the loss of two wickets. Sehwag showed why he is still a nightmare even for the most accomplished of bowlers. He along with opener Gautham Gambhir made 233 runs for the first wicket. Sehwag’s innings was quick paced and this lent the freedom to Gambhir to score at a natural rate. While Sehwag’s century was one of belligerence and free-play, Dravid and Gambir played their centuries with flair and technique. The centuries from the top 3 batsmen notwithstanding, half cenrturies by Laxman and Yuvaraj and a useful 40 by Tendulkar just made the job tougher for the Lankan bowlers.
The fiery spell by Rangana Herath (5 for 121)was too little too late as the Indian top order has piled up a massive 613 runs for 5 wickets in about 114 overs at an impressive run rate of 4.34. India lost its next 5 wickets for a meager 29 runs over a span of 12.5 overs. But it was work well done by the Indians and Lankans had a daunting task ahead of them. Their decision to go with 3 spinners finally helped them but we are yet to see the sparkle of star performer Muthiah in the series.
The Sri Lankan innings dealt a heavy blow with Tilekaratne Dilshan getting out in the very first ball of the innings by giving an easy catch to debutant Pragyan Ojha. With no partnerships visibly being built, it was a sad story of a great Sri Lankan batting collapse. It was sad to see that there wasn’t even a single half-century when they were looking to give a fitting reply to India’s mammoth score. S Sreesanth had an amazing come-back to the international test arena after a gap of 19 months. His last test match was in the same venue against South Africa and failed to make an impression in that match as he went down due to injury. His return of 5 for 75 was one of discipline and precision and needless to say, his consistent bowling was well rewarded. Debutant Ojha made a good impression and was well complemented by the spin spearhead Harbhajan Singh. Zaheer was his usual self with glimpses of quality reverse swing. When the last Sri Lankan wicket fell for 229 runs, India could very well smell the pleasant smell of victory which was 10 wickets away with well over 2 days to work on.
Following on, Sri Lankan had to score 413 runs in their second innings to get a lead or bat for well over 200 overs to save the test match. Both options were too much to ask for and the Sri Lankan batsmen fell prey to the Indian bowlers as they were able to score only 269 runs with their 10 wickets in 65.3 overs. Even though every Lankan batsmen except Welegedara made double digit score, it wasn’t enough to build a big partnership that was needed of them. Samaraweera’s innings was the lone bright spot and his partnership with Murali and Mendis did frustrate the Indian bowlers. It was up to Yuvraj Singh to provide the much needed breakthrough and it was left to Pragyan Ojha to clean up the Lankan innings as the Indians went to score their biggest test victory in terms of runs.
The Sri Lankans were conquered on all fronts and if they have to level the series, their batsmen have to repeat their performance of the Ahmedabad test and their bowling needs to penetrate the depth of the Indian batting lineup. As far as the Indians are concerned they just need to keep things simple and make sure that they don’t give room for the Lankan spinners to dominate the proceedings. After the run feast in Ahmedabad and a thumping win for India in the Kanpur test, the Mumbai test will surely be a spectacle that the cricketing fraternity will eagerly look forward to. The Indians must be looking forward to reach the no.1 spot in the test rankings which is possible only by a victory in the third and final test.