KANPUR, India, (Reuters) – Rahul Dravid completed his 28th Test century and moved into fourth place on the all-time scorers list as India tightened their grip on the second Test against Sri Lanka yesterday.
Dravid made a superb 144 after becoming the third player to score a hundred before India were all out for 642 soon after tea on the second day.
Sri Lankan left-arm spinner Rangana Herath triggered a late batting slump, grabbing five wickets by striking either side of the interval on a slow Green Park pitch.
Herath captured five for 121, his fourth five-wicket haul in a Test innings, taking all but one of the last six wickets which tumbled for 29 runs.
Sri Lanka reached 66 for one at stumps after a nightmare start when opener Tillakaratne Dilshan was out for a first ball duck when he top-edged a loosener down the leg side from paceman Zaheer Khan to be caught at mid-on.
Skipper Kumar Sangakkara and opener Tharanga Paranavitana were both not out on 30.
India drove home the advantage of batting first on winning the toss, building on the overnight centuries from openers Gautam Gambir (167) and Virender Sehwag (131) and their 233-run stand.
Dravid dominated the first session with sublime shots to underline his form after scoring 177 in the drawn first Test in Ahmedabad.
He drove left-arm paceman Chanaka Welegedara for four to reach his 28th Test hundred, moving to ninth overall in the list headed by Sachin Tendulkar (43).
Dravid, who surpassed 11,000 runs in the previous Test, rose to fourth in terms of career aggregate. Only Tendulkar, retired West Indies batsman Brian Lara and Australian skipper Ricky Ponting are ahead.
BATTED BEAUTIFULLY Tendulkar was the first to go in the morning. He shared a 94-run partnership with Dravid and was dropped on 30 against Ajantha Mendis.
He hit the leg spinner for six in his next over but ran out of luck two balls later, foxed by a short ball as he stepped out of the crease to be caught at wide mid-off.
Dravid batted beautifully before he was run out in bizarre fashion, backing too far as Herath dropped a return catch from Laxman but deflected the ball on to the stumps at the non-strikers end.
He hit 15 fours and a six in his 226-ball knock.
The 31-year-old Herath, Sri Lanka’s in-form spinner, had Laxman caught at wide mid-off after lunch and then bowled skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (4) and Harbhajan Singh (5) with angled deliveries which sneaked in between bat and pad.
He mopped up the tail after tea by claiming the last two wickets of Zaheer (1) and Shanthakumaran Sreesanth (0).
“When I started this series, personally I wanted to get a five wicket haul in India,” Herath told reporters. “That was one of my targets and I’m glad I’ve achieved that.
“I’ve taken a few five-wicket hauls at home but this is my first five-wicket haul away from Sri Lanka,” added Herath, who made his debut in 1999 but is playing only in his 20th Test.
“Today’s performance is all the more satisfying because we got their last eight wickets for about 250 runs. The wicket is slow and low and I thought it was a good effort.”
