Sport

Virender Sehwag at his belligerent best

Galle: It came down in slanting-wet lashes on Thursday afternoon, carried on winds that bent the flag-staffs of the sea-weathered Galle Fort, drowning the adjoining ground in unbecoming puddles.

Thus was Virender Sehwag interrupted. The 29-year-old opener had unleashed a storm of his own before lunch on the first day of the second Test, scattering Sri Lanka like gale-swept wicker baskets.

Sehwag hastened to 91 in the first session, recalling memories of St. Lucia where he had cracked 99 before lunch, but was forced to wait over four hours for his next run.

That the wait extended no further was a credit to the ground-staff.

They had the ground covered in a trice, even as dark clouds blew in threateningly. The puddles had little choice but to form on the covers, which were later adroitly removed.

The game’s dynamic changed abruptly on resumption. Sehwag wasted no time getting to his 15th Test century, clattering Chaminda Vaas for six over deep mid-wicket and four past mid-off, but the batsmen at the other end weren’t doing as sunnily.

Sri Lanka, through Ajantha Mendis and Vaas, wrecked India’s position of superiority, claiming four wickets in the space of 20 balls.

Sehwag stayed firm however, demonstrating again his rare ability for natural expression under duress, as India advanced to 214 for four in 44.3 overs before bad light ended Thursday’s play.

Sehwag and Gambhir had earlier begun India’s innings a touch nervously after Anil Kumble won the toss. Vaas and Nuwan Kulasekara, by no stretch the most menacing new-ball pair around, tested the openers: the former with gentle lefty swing; the latter with skilful cut either way.

It wasn’t until Mahela Jayawardene appealed for the referral of a possible bat-pad dismissal that things turned interesting.

Sehwag, on 13 off 26 balls then, survived — the replays wouldn’t confirm if Mendis’s off-break took glove or bat — and cut loose on a strip approving of strokeplay, although not entirely forthcoming in its generosity.

Sehwag socked Mendis over the boundary rope, before creating room and carving the mystery spinner through cover. Gambhir treated Mendis confidently as well, skipping down the track to slap him straight, and once threading a drive, having struck it inside-out, through a stacked off-side field.

India’s tactic of unsettling the 23-year-old by attacking him worked: Mendis’s first spell read 6-0-37-0.

Kulasekara suffered as well. Sehwag glanced him fine, the bat describing a full circle from the back-lift past the perpendicular to the follow through high behind the batsman. An in-ducker was met by a pluperfect cover-drive (the footwork that set up the stroke was classical; not always the case with Sehwag).

The bald batsman saved his best for Muttiah Muralitharan, almost falling away to the leg-side as he struck doosras between point and extra-cover.

Sehwag ensured Gambhir got to a deserved half-century before lunch, calling his partner through for a sharp single. As the pair walked off the field for lunch, grinning like schoolboys who had aced an exam, India — on 151 without loss — might have contemplated further accrual.

The rain delay helped Sri Lanka alter matters. Sehwag raced past a hundred in 87 balls, but Gambhir fell in the next over.

The left-hander — whose stay comprised the ordinary, the inspired, and the efficient — played outside a Mendis googly from over the wicket.

Although Gambhir asked for a review of the leg-before decision, replays suggested that he had been pinned in front.

Mendis then snared Rahul Dravid, the batsman failing to deal adequately with the fast break into him. Replays of the catch at short-leg showed, however, that the ball had grazed the grille of the fielder’s helmet, which under Law 32.3 (e) negates the legality of the dismissal.

Dravid’s 2, while inadequate, took him past Sunil Gavaskar’s 10,122 Test runs to second spot on India’s list.

Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly were consumed by Vaas during a dramatic 35th over. Tendulkar played outside Vaas’s angle from over the wicket — his front foot stretching too far across, pad in fact nudging bat away from ball.

Ganguly was given four deliveries that stayed their course, while a fifth shaded away. Wicketkeeper Prasanna Jayawardene — who had earlier put off Kumar Sangakkara at first slip with an ill-judged leap, causing the vice-captain to drop Gambhir (on 13) — made amends. The nick, engendered by an open bat face, was taken one-handed in an acrobatic roll.

Play will start 30 minutes early on the remaining days to make up for the overs lost.

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