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Lunch India 105 for 4 (Dravid 45*, Yuvraj 35*, Welegedera 3-28) v Sri Lanka


Two men who weren't even supposed to be playing this Test swung out four of India's batsmen in the first half hour. Chanaka Welegedera and Dammika Prasad, with four Tests and 15 wickets between them before today, had to be drafted in because of late niggles to Nuwan Kulasekara and Thilan Thushara. Yet the pair - especially Welegedera - used the early-morning freshness to reduce India to 32 for 4. Following that, Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh first counterattacked, then consolidated, and saw India through to lunch with an unbeaten 73-run stand.

Test cricket it might be, but most of the first session went at a breathtaking pace. It got off to an unorthodox start too. Instead of the usual just-outside-the-off line, Welegedera started off attacking Gautam Gambhir on middle and off. Gambhir blocked and ran, and Virender Sehwag caressed the next delivery through the covers. Another boundary came in the next over, and for a moment it started looking ominous for Sri Lanka.

But Welegedara had got the ball to swing in his first over and mixed deliveries going on with the angle. In his second, however, he got Gambhir playing for swing that wasn't, as the batsman ended up poking almost outside the line of a straight delivery and played it on. Sehwag continued attacking and succeeding until Welegedera produced a perfect inswinger; the umpire Tony Hill adjudged a perfect lbw decision, ruling that the ball hit the pad first and in front of middle and off.

Out came Sachin Tendulkar, 20 years and a day old in international cricket, at 27 for 2. Out came a perfect cover-drive first ball. And out went Tendulkar, at 31 for 3, having played outside the line of a ball that slightly held its line. With 3 for 12, Welegedera threatened a repeat of the previous Ahmedabad Test when India were shot out for 76 on the first morning.

Prasad got into action soon when VVS Laxman dragged one on, playing away from the body and done in by slight inward movement. All four wickets came attacking the stumps and Sri Lanka continued doing just that. Dravid and Yuvraj, having realised this wasn't a beast to bat on, counterattacked. Dravid got going through late clips off his pads, Yuvraj through a thick edge past gully. Immediately, though, Yuvraj corrected it with a picture-perfect cover-drive. When on 13, he edged Welegedera but took the bottom hand off bat, getting the ball to bounce short of third slip.

Kumar Sangakkara perhaps missed a trick by introducing Angelo Mathews before Muttiah Muralitharan, and both Yuvraj and Dravid enjoyed the gentle pace and length balling. A couple of classy shots from Dravid later, the two had added 34 in 32 deliveries even before Murali was introduced.

Yuvraj faced the first over from Murali. The high back lift kept everybody interested, but he showed good judgement of the topspinner and regular offbreak. The run-rated dropped a bit, but Sri Lanka didn't look like they were dictating play. Driving through the line looked easy while the two were at it.

When Rangana Herath - playing ahead of Ajantha Mendis - was introduced roughly 20 minutes before lunch, India moved into control mode. Dravid stepped out and lofted him for a six in his first over, Yuvraj hammered him through for four through midwicket in his second. Yuvraj copped one on the helmet from Prasad just before the interval, but there was little else during that partnership to encourage Sri Lanka.