Sri Lanka wraps up series in style : Cricket

PAT FOR THE SKIPPER: Mahela Jayawardene (right) is greeted by Kumar Sangakkara after guiding his team to a series win.


There was to be no magic at the P. Saravanamuttu Stadium on Monday, although India, through Rahul Dravid, V.V.S. Laxman, and Harbhajan Singh, tried its hardest, extending the third Test deep into the fourth day.

But eventually the mistakes and the misfortunes of the days past caught up, as they must: the batting failure after winning the toss; the inability (compounded by Ishant Sharma’s injury and a dodgy referral) to curtail the Sri Lankan lower half; the collapse after tea on day three. Sri Lanka completed an eight-wicket win on Monday evening, Malinda Warnapura and Mahela Jayawardene controlling a comfortable chase, to deservedly win the three-Test series 2-1.

SCOREBOARD India — 1st innings: 249.

Sri Lanka — 1st innings: 396.

India — 2nd innings: G. Gambhir b Prasad 26, V. Sehwag c Samaraweera b Prasad 34, R. Dravid c M. Jayawardene b Mendis 68, S. Ganguly lbw b Muralitharan 18, P. Patel lbw b Mendis 1, S. Tendulkar lbw b Mendis 14, V.V.S. Laxman (not out) 61, A. Kumble lbw b Muralitharan 9, Harbhajan lbw b Vaas 26, Zaheer (run out) 0, Ishant c Warnapura b Muralitharan 0; Extras (b-5, lb-3, nb-1, w-2): 11; Total (in 87.5 overs): 268.

Fall of wickets: 1-62 (Sehwag), 2-65 (Gambhir), 3-108 (Ganguly), 4-109 (Parthiv), 5-131 (Tendulkar), 6-216 (Dravid), 7-229 (Kumble), 8-266 (Harbhajan), 9-268 (Zaheer).

Sri Lanka bowling: Vaas 5-0-20-1, Prasad 11-0-60-2, Muralitharan 37.5-4-99-3, Mendis 34-7-81-3.

Sri Lanka — 2nd innings: M. Vandort b Harbhajan 8, M. Warnapura (not out) 54, K. Sangakkara c Gambhir b Zaheer 4, M. Jayawardene (not out) 50; Extras (b-4, lb-3): 7; Total (for two wkts. in 33.1 overs): 123.

Fall of wickets: 1-11 (Vandort), 2-22 (Sangakkara).

India bowling: Zaheer 6-1-22-1, Harbhajan 14-2-44-1, Kumble 10-2-34-0, Sehwag 3-0-12-0, Ganguly 0.1-0-4-0.