India saved the test match
After a tough fifth day, India managed to save the test match thanks to the centuries from Sachin and Gambir. India started the day with 190/2, with Gambir and the night watchman Mishra in the crease. Mishra did an extremely good job to hang on in the crease, which also frustrated the Sri Lankan bowlers.
Really it was great to see Mishra playing good cricketing shorts and to be frank I never expected Mishra to bat well, because I have never seen his batting often. So he did well to hand on for some overs at the start of the fifth day, before finally got out , caught splendidly by Dilshan.
It was a great fielding set up by the Lankan captain, because few moments before Mishra got out, Sangakara placed Dilshan at the particular position. Mishra got out for 24 and this gave way to the Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar who later scored his 43rd test century.
Gambir and Tendulkar took care that India doesn’t lose any more wickets before lunch. Meanwhile Gambir also scored his 7th test century and he proved again that he scores well in the second innings also. So the fans were confident that India can save the match as they just need to play another 2 sessions without losing all wickets.
But Gambir tried one shot too many, as he was caught out in Herath bowling, when he tried to clear the boundary. Really a match saving knocks by Gambir and he is slowly transforming into a mature player. So Laxman replaced Gambir and this is a great test for him, because he was on a pair, as he was out duck in the first innings.
But he did well to support Sachin and took care India doesn’t lose further wickets before tea. They achieved their goal, and they went for the tea break with a 7 runs lead and everybody was pretty sure that India will save the test match from a losing position at one stage, when they were asked to bat in the second innings trailing by 334 runs.
After tea India doesn’t lose any more wickets and more than that Sachin also scored his 43rd test century apart from Laxman’s half century. But Lankans didn’t give up very easily as they gave a tough challenge because they bowled most of the deliveries outside the off stump, which never gave any chance for the batsman to score runs.
India saved the test match and now they can go with full confident to Kanpur, where they will play the second test match on 24th November.
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