da bet sport： India made good use of their only chance to gain match practice beforethe first Test at Galle next week, when they batted throughout thesecond day of this three-day warm up game against a Sri Lankan BoardXI at P Saravanamuttu Stadium today
Charlie Austin09-Aug-2001India made good use of their only chance to gain match practice beforethe first Test at Galle next week, when they batted throughout thesecond day of this three-day warm up game against a Sri Lankan BoardXI at P Saravanamuttu Stadium today.Replying to the Board XI’s first innings score of 326 they were 281for five at the close after an opening century partnership bySadagoppan Ramesh and Shiv Sunder Das and an unbeaten fifty from adisgruntled Sourav Ganguly, whose high emotions continue to bubble.Yesterday, he was upset with media criticism back home and thesuggestion that he had been critical of Rahul Dravid’s captaincywhilst commentating on television during the Coca-Cola Cup. Today, hisfrustration centered on this Saravanamuttu pitch, which had alreadystarted to crumble yesterday afternoon.With a couple of deliveries jumping last night he was understandablyconcerned about further injuries to his depleted squad today. He triedto have the match moved to another venue, but acquiesced in the endwhen the curator filled some of the offending patches with mud.In the morning the wicket played truly and the Indian openers battedsedately. They saw off a fast new ball spell from Ruchira Perera andlively spells from both Suresh Perera and Dinusha Fernando. Das wasdropped twice in the thirties, but they generally looked verycomfortable, as they added 135 for the first wicket. It was notscintillating by any means – Javagal Srinath took the opportunity toread a novel on a grass bank next to two grazing nags – but its just thekind of start that India would dearly like in the Test matches.By the afternoon, however, the curators mud had clearly been baked dryby the burning sun and the wicket started to misbehave with increasingand disconcerting frequency. Ramesh was the first to suffer, as adelivery from Fernando popped from a good length and he was caught atmid off, having made 63 from 165 balls.The middle order then started to stutter. Das was bowled whilst tryingto sweep the left arm spin of Sajeewa Weerakoon for 72. Mohammad Kaifwas caught behind off a fine ball from Fernando having made just sixand Dinesh Mongia was brilliantly picked up by Sangakkara diving downthe leg side. India were 172 for four.Sourav Ganguly steadied the innings, finishing the day on 74, but hebecame increasingly annoyed by the behaviour of the pitch and wasrapped nastily on the gloves on two occasions, the second of whichprompted him to throw away his bat in disgust. When Sameer Dighejoined him at the wicket, after the fall of Hemang Bandani, he too wason the receiving end of a lifter. Ganguly could be seen gesticulatingto the dressing room in annoyance. Thankfully, they survived injuryfree to the close.With the captain having already scored runs and with Dighe unbeaten on25, it makes little sense to continue batting tomorrow and riskfurther injuries. In fact, there is a chance this game will beabandoned tomorrow morning – there is simply too much to lose and toolittle to gain.Even the Sri Lankan may not be too keen to play with four possibleTest players in the team, although the selectors have delayed their final meeting tomorrow so that can have another look at the batsmen.They had a good look at the fast bowlers though, one of whom is likely to play in Galle.The choice will be difficult. Ruchira Perera was the quickest and themost economical, conceding just 35 runs in his 17 overs, so hisbowling can be relied upon. Unfortunately, his on field behaviour maybe deemed unacceptable. This afternoon, having had three successiveappeals against Ganguly turned down, his disappointment crossed theline and, should a match referee have been present, he would surelyhave been hauled before him.The other contenders were also impressive at times. Suresh Perera was lively in his two spells, but expensive. Dinusha Fernando was also costly, but nevertheless picked up two wickets and could easily have had more.