Lanka scores runs by the ton

'Body language' has become fashionable of late as a peg for hanging cricket analysis on, but we don't even need to go there.

The field setting and bowling line in the early overs of the first session were all the indication you needed that the Indian team was resigned to the inevitable.

You expected the team to come out thinking, right, today is another day, there are two regular batsmen out there, but if we get one of them out, then we are into the tail.

Instead, the field was defensive, and calculated to stop the run flow rather than produce wickets. The skipper packed the offside field with seven men against two on the on, and the bowlers kept the ball a foot or more outside off.

Did it work? Did it, ever -- 28 overs before lunch produced 107 runs at 3.82, while Sri Lanka enhanced its lead to 196 for the loss -- through umpiring error -- of Mahela Jayawardene.

Even granting that the wicket, while still retaining its turn, had eased off in terms of the alarming bounce it offered earlier, there was an absence of perseverance on the part of the Indians that was both puzzling, and alarming.

If the Indian mindset was under-confident, the Lankans were the polar opposite, and Jayawardene epitomised it to perfection. 'Baby Jaya' moved to 99 with the deftest of glides against Prasad, then brought up his second successive Test 100 (157 balls, 10 fours, one six, seventh century overall, all on home soil) with a lofted sweep into the legside, do note, where there was enough untenanted acreage to put up a multistoreyed building, off Harbhajan Singh.

And then Jayawardene got even better, with a series of inch-perfect strokes that scattered whatever was left of the Indian morale. What was strange was that despite the evidence of their eyes, the Indians persisted with the ploy of defending one side of the track while the runs cascaded on the other, off both pace and seam.

Again, both Sairaj Bahutule and Harbhajan Singh on Friday morning got more turn and bounce than they had managed on Thursday, but the field remained defensive and the batsmen were never in any danger.

Equally noticeable during this session was the problem of Zaheer Khan -- who has become one of the tour's walking wounded. On second thought, he was that even during the ODIs, but he opted to stay back because the team couldn't lose both its lead seamers (Ashish Nehra, it needs remembering, has been rendered hors d'combat) and here, he seems to have finally run out of the will that kept him going thus far.

Thus, even in his first over of the morning, Zaheer could do little more than amble in and send the ball down at a benign 120-ish kmph, a good 20k under his top pace. Later in the evening, Zaheer bowled a mere two overs with the new ball -- clear enough signs that he has bowled himself into the ground, and that should be a bit of a worry with the South African tour coming up.

If India got rid of Jayawardene some 110 runs after Dighe grassed a simple take off Bahutule on Thursday, the credit goes entirely to David Orchard, the fastest trigger finger in the West. Bahutule bowled a delivery back of good length, on off stump. The natural turn would take it outside off -- and Dighe, in fact, went a long way to that side for the collection. Jayawardene got well forward and pushed his pad at the ball, and Orchard decided that 139 off 215 deliveries with 14 fours and one six was all that Jayawardene was entitled to make (417/6 Lanka, at the end of yet another sizeable partnership of 95 off just under 28 overs, at 3.45).

Post-lunch play belonged to Hashan Tillekeratne. Two and a half years in hibernation and, in his outings earlier in this series, a pale shadow of the stylish strokeplayer of earlier days, Tillekeratne came back into his own (one of these days, someone's got to compile a list of the number of batsmen who've batted themselves back into form against India) with a display that recalled his glory days. His batting at its best is characterised by the fluency of his driving -- and today, he drove like the cricketing version of Michael Schumacher, front foot extension precisely calculated, bat close to pad, and lovely acceleration into the shot.

And to think that he very nearly didn't play this game, with Michael Vandort being tipped to replace him. There seems to be something to be said for keeping the faith.

Thilan Samaraweera, making his debut, merely had to keep his end up while Tillekeratne did the damage. But as it transpired, thanks largely to bowling that had lost whatever spirit remained and seemed -- as did the fielding -- to be content to go through the motions and await the inevitable declaration, Samaraweera actually got the scope to prosper.

A measure of how the Indians seemed content to sit on the splice rather than keep pushing is afforded by the fact that at one point, we had Hemang Badani and Sadagopan Ramesh bowling in tandem. If the batsmen didn't get out laughing, well, put it down as another of those chances India missed.

In the event, Tillekeratne brought up his 50 off 88 deliveries. And moved smoothly to his seventh century off 165 balls, with Lanka at that point on 504/6. Samaraweera for his part brought up his 50 on debut off 113 deliveries.

And India, supposedly on the 'defensive', saw the second session yield 103 runs off 32 overs, at 3.22. Raises a question -- how much worse could it have been had they remained intent on attack, both in terms of the line the bowlers bowled, and in terms of the fields that were set for them? Would they have conceded significantly more runs if batsmen saw close-in fielders as they took strike?

Lanka's intent after tea was -- obviously -- to open out their shoulders, with scant regard for length, line and other niceties. India did take the second new ball, but with fielders pushed well back, all that accomplished was to put the batsmen in two minds -- do I hit this chappie for a single or try for the boundary?

Samaraweera, on a day when the cricket world celebrated the five centuries Pakistan racked up against Bangladesh, made it number four for Sri Lanka shortly after the final drinks break of the day. The youngster, who plays for the Sinhalese Sports Club, fully deserved it on his home ground -- a compact, composed batsman who looks at home on front foot and back, he at no point showed any sign of the pressure a debutant is expected to feel, playing the bowling strictly on merit and, especially after tea, revealing an enviable repertoire of shots all round the wicket.

Samaraweera's 100 came off 175 deliveries, with Lanka on 610/6 -- its second highest score ever, and India certainly needs no reminding of the highest score. With Tillekeratne at the other end unconquered on 136 (214 balls), Lanka applied the closure with a lead of 376 and one innings left to play, if required.

The Indians, faced with the knowledge that they cannot win this one from here, could with profit look at a couple of facets of the Lankan innings to learn from. The first relates to partnerships -- and Lanka, for successive wickets, notched up 48, 71, 133, 58, 11 (this one was with night watchman Dulip Liyanage), 95 and, finally, an unbeaten 194 off 284 balls for the seventh wicket.

It was all about successive pairs forming relationships in the middle, and complementing each other.

The other relates to how the Lankan batsmen got their runs. Check these figures out, for the successive centurions: Marvan Atapattu scored 108 off 228 deliveries at a strike rate of 47.37; Mahela Jayawardene scored 139 off 216 at 64.35; Hashan Tillekeratne got 136 not out off 214 at 63.55 and Thilan Samaraweera got 103 off 175 at 58.86.

Cumulatively, the picture you are getting is of blazing batsmanship, of long-handle hitting that is startling in the context of a Test match, right?

Right. Now look at this: Atapattu had 172 dot balls off 228 faced; Jayawardene defended to 149 off 216; Tillekeratne 141 off 214 and Samaraweera 121 off 175 faced.

Now what picture do you get? Of batsmen who were content to play the ball as it came, content to occupy the crease in the knowledge that if they did, the boundary balls would inevitably come along (68 of them plus a six-ball came along in the Lankan innings) and their overall strike rate would be healthy as can be (Lanka, remember, scored its runs at a cracking 3.5-plus).

There's a key in there for the Indians -- on this, or any, wicket. Flashback now to how, after a superb start, Das started the slide after lunch on day one when, rather than wait for the error, he went charging down the track for an ungainly heave, or Ramesh chased a drive outside his off and away from his body, or Ganguly, while still batting binary, came a good three steps down the track, and you'll probably have some idea of the different approach adopted by the two teams.

Talking of which, Das off the last ball of the fourth over of India's second innings got one from Dilhara Fernando that was short and just wide of off, and went chasing in an attempt to force square off his toes -- the new ball, bouncing nicely, took the makers' label on the bat and just slipped out of Tillekeratne's hands at point as the centurion leapt high to attempt a two-handed take.

Rather strangely, though Muralitharan was brought in early enough, Lankan skipper Sanath Jayasuriya, with a bagful of runs under his belt and no logical way he can lose this game, seemed content with a semi-attacking field -- just two catching close for Ramesh, for instance, and no bat-pad on the leg side for Das, while he had a man sweeping at cover and another riding the fence at midwicket.

Does it indicate that the Lankan skipper thinks there really is next to nothing in this wicket now, even for his premier bowler who, in 12 Tests against India till date, has 72 wickets and a mind-boggling five five-wickets-per-innings hauls?

The two openers had to see off 13 overs this evening. They did. Now they -- and their nine compatriots -- have to see off only two more days or, looked at another way, 180 overs.

I'm not joking, I think.

Detailed Scorecards
Ind 1st innings
SL 1st innings
Ind 2nd innings

Also read: Day 1 | Day 2

India vs Sri Lanka: Complete coverage