India fold for 232

India, faced with the modest Sri Lankan first innings score of 274, found itself in trouble when it lost half the side inside half that score in the space of just 32 overs.

And India only had itself to blame.

Does that sound like an echo from the past? It is, actually.

There is trick to doing these match reports: Pick one from the archives. Any one. Change the date and, if necessary, the names of the bowlers. And leave the rest untouched.

So, what follows is an echo from Galle -- and many, many other games past.

This morning, the unfinished Lankan innings lasted exactly one ball -- Harvinder Singh, who on day one seemed under the impression that if he pitched in the batsman's half of the pitch, something unspeakably awful would happen to him, changed tack, bowled an opening delivery on yorker length, and duly cleaned up Chaminda Vaas without addition to that batsman's, or the team's, overnight score.

274 may be at least 50 runs more than what India should have allowed Lanka to get after dismissing the top order relatively cheap -- but on the plus side, blazing sunshine at the Asgiriya Stadium had burnt away every hint of moisture from the deck, the ball was coming nicely on to the bat, and the conditions were as good for batting as you are apt to find them.

In Galle, the Indian openers had shown a definite desire to occupy the crease. Shiv Sundar Das -- the more tenacious of the two -- was however not given a chance to go for an encore here. Chaminda Vaas swung one in, Das on-drove, got a big nick onto his pads, and the umpire promptly declared him LBW. To round it off, the ball was going away on the angle and likely to miss leg stump anyway. India 11/1, Das 8/17.

Rahul Dravid (15 off 19) reverted to the number three slot he had occupied till VVS Laxman's Calcutta heroics pushed him down the order. And the Indian vice captain looked good from the get-go -- the timing, footwork and composure you expect from him were all present and accounted for. One good ball, though, ended all that when Vaas swung one in from a line of off, hit line of middle and straightened to hit the pad bang in line (India 36/2).

Saurav Ganguly walked out in the number four slot -- and the fact that India's two premier batsmen opted to promote themselves and take on the onus, rather than hide behind novices, deserves a measure of praise.

Before the game, Ganguly had paid marked, and eloquent, tribute to Mark Butcher's recent heroics against Australia. The way he played, Ganguly said, was an inspiration to all out of form batsmen.

The Indian skipper appeared to have carried that inspiration, along with his bat, out into the middle -- for once, there was no hesitancy in his footwork, no doubts about his shot selection in offense or defense. In recent innings, there has been an inevitability to his dismissals -- this time, it came as a surprise.

In an action replay of the Kumara Sangakaara dismissal in Lanka's first innings, Ruchira Perera bowled one outside off, just back of a length and just wide enough to draw the batsman into the drive. Ganguly committed to the shot, the ball seamed away just enough to miss the sweet spot and find the thick edge, and Tillekeratne pulled off the kind of gully catch Ramesh had produced yesterday, to reduce India to 68/3.

Sadagopan Ramesh and Mohammad Kaif then produced India's best partnership -- 'best', in more than just numeric terms. The former for once found his feet moving like they'd been freshly oiled, and this meant that he was right behind the line to every single delivery. Kaif, for his part, is the best runner between wickets in this team, and he used that strength to keep the strike rolling over.

The 50 of the partnership came up in the 28th over, off just 77 deliveries -- a rate of scoring that indicated just how easy the two batsmen found the conditions. But Dilhara Fernando, as at Galle, produced that extra fire just when he needed it, with a snorter that kicked off just short of length and took Kaif by surprise. The batsman was unable to get out of the line of that one, the ball hit the splice and flew in the air for Atapattu, at gully, to hold on the dive and reduce India to 120/4.

And if Fernando overstepped by about half a foot when bowling that ball and the umpire chose not to call it, let's not fuss -- it is merely par for a course that, in the first Test, saw two Indian batsmen out to no balls.

An over later, Ramesh forgot how he had been batting till then, and went back to his earlier, ungainly, style. To an angled Fernando delivery across him, the left-hander kept his feet rooted and pushed with the bat, to feather the edge behind and inside of 32 overs, India found half its side back in the hut for less than half of Lanka's first innings total.

Hemang Badani walked out to the middle -- with an axe over his head and his captain's backing behind him. The media, and commentators, have been calling for his head. Saurav Ganguly for his part said, flat out, that it was unfair to drop a batsman after just one and a half Tests (it needs to be remembered that the other 'half' was the innings wherein Badani opened thanks to Ramesh's injury).

Badani's innings, in microcosm, symbolised the Indian effort thus far -- the batsman seemed in two minds, and neither of them seemed to be the right one. When he played attacking drives, he looked good -- but as if embarassed by his own temerity in actually sending a ball to the boundary, Badani promptly went the other way and, time and again, to deliveries that could have been guided for runs, opted instead for predetermined defense.

That kind of attitude in fact set him up for dismissal -- Ruchira Perera banged one down, the ball was right for the pull, but the defensive-minded Badani (16 off 52) took too long to decide on the shot, moved into it late and, as a result, managed only to put it up for mid on to hold with extreme ease (154/6)

The second session saw the Lankan bowlers go on a bouncer barrage, with Vaas against Dighe being the most overt. And again, there was in this a clue to the attitudes of the two teams -- Lanka bristled with aggression, India collectively cowered rather than counter.

India went in to tea on 161/6 -- having lost three wickets for 71 runs in 27 overs during the post-lunch session, when batting is traditionally the easiest. Dighe survived the bouncer barrage to walk back with 10 (55 balls), with Harbhajan for company on 4 off five deliveries.

During the break, someone appeared to have done some thinking -- and talking to the not out batsmen. Survival was not the issue -- the more the tail focussed on just staying there, the greater the chances that a good ball would come along and do for them.

Dighe and Harbhajan, thus, kicked off the day's final session with furious strokeplay, that saw 33 runs come off just three overs from Muralitharan and Fernando after the break. Harbhajan in particular was vicious, getting a club-like grip on the bat and hitting at anything the bowlers chose to throw at him. The shotplay proved a point -- too late for the Indians, but relevant for the rest of the game -- that there really is no reason why this pitch should see low scores and batting collapses.

Two shots told the story -- Muralitharan with a ring of fielders floated one up and his fellow offie, Harbhajan, took a big stride forward and smacked him high and hard back over his head for four. In the next over, Vaas took over from Fernando and resumed his bouncer-barrage at Dighe -- and the keeper-batsman, reversing the pre-tea policy of ducking under everything, stood up on his hind legs and smashed a pull through midwicket, forcing Vaas to mutter imprecations and waste the next delivery, a bouncer sailing harmlessly wide of leg stump.

India had lacked aggression till that point in time -- this partnership, which brought up 52 off 52 balls, showed it, in spades, and suddenly the attack began looking extremely ordinary.

Vaas finally got the wicket, when he straightened one on off and middle to take out Dighe, LBW for 28 (77 balls, India 218/6), ending a partnership of 64 runs off 61 deliveries.

With Harbhajan Singh exhorting him, Zahir Khan (19 deliveries for his 0) showed every intention of just staying put and letting his partner do the hitting. Muralitharan tossed one up, Zahir Khan pushed his pad at it -- and was given out. Not LBW, but caught at silly point. A charitable view would be that the home umpire, standing in his first Test match, was under pressure from all that yelling and carrying on by the Lankan close cordon. Lots of pressure actually, if you remember Das and Kaif as well.

Vaas then brought an end to Harbhajan's enterprising knock, with a full length delivery that the offie tried to loft over long on, but missed. And as he walked off, you couldn't get the sneaky feeling that his 44, off just 32 deliveries, could prove more vital to the fortunes of this game than seems apparent at this point in time.

Murali wrapped up the Indian innings at 232 when Harvinder Singh was completely deceived by a straight delivery that castled the stumps.

Lanka ended the first half of the game ahead by 42 -- vital runs, but far less than seemed possible when the top order caved in after lunch. For the bowling side, Vaas was exceptional, barring that period either side of tea when machismo replaced sense, and he bounced often enough to make you wonder if he was trying out for the trampoline section of the gymnastics event. Muralitharan and Fernando, for their part, were about as good as they were allowed to be -- superb when the batsmen prodded at them, ineffectual when they were played on the merits of the ball they delivered.

For India, Zahir Khan opened with Harvinder -- and yet again, made you wonder why he was not given the new ball in Galle. Here, in benign conditions, he produced a fiery burst that first turned Atapattu topsy turvy, then took out Sanath Jayasuriya.

The Lankan captain may be murderous to the line short and outside his off -- but with that locked bottom hand and a grip like the village blacksmith's, he is never going to get a driving license. Which logically means the length to bowl to him is full, and on or around off.

Zahir did just that. And in a nice little partnership with his captain, set a field -- short square, leg slip -- for the short snorter, but produced a good length ball jagging back in just enough. Jayasuriya parodied the drive -- in his case, more of a short arm jab -- and the ball took the inner edge onto the stumps.

One ball later, Sangakaara aimed a pull at a short ball that grew big on him to find the top edge. Up it went, and Dighe from behind the stumps and Harvinder from fine leg raced for the catch. Either could have got it, had they learnt how to claim an aerial ball -- the call, schoolboys are taught, is 'Mine'. To cut a long and, for Zahir, sad story short, the ball fell between the two.

From there on, Marvan Atapattu (30 off 60) and Kumara Sangakaara (13 off 43) shut things down, scoring off the bad balls but keeping the good ones at bay, and took Lanka in at close on day two on a very comfortable 52/1, which puts them 94 runs ahead overall, with nine wickets in hand.

Miracles have happened, and could happen again -- an inspired spell or three could trigger one here. But barring miracles, you'd have to say that at the end of day two, Sri Lanka have put themselves in the box seat, and given themselves time, and space, to build a big total (300 overall should do it) and still leave sufficient time to bowl India out.

Detailed Scorecards:

SL 2nd Innings
SL 1st Innings
Indian 1st Innings