Former captain Mahela Jayawardene hit an unbeaten 204 as Sri Lanka marched towards a big first innings lead in the first Test against India here on Wednesday.
Former captain Mahela Jayawardene hit an unbeatenu00a0204 as Sri Lanka marched towards a big first innings lead in the first Test against India here on Wednesday.
Sri Lanka made 591 for five in the first innings, in reply to India's 462, at the close of third day's play of the first cricket Test on a good batting pitch at the Motera stadium.
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Sri Lanka, who were 483-5 at tea, did not lose a wicket in theu00a0final session as Prasanna Jayawardene (84 not out) helped his senior partner pile up runs for the unbroken sixth wicket.
The Indian bowlers toiled in vain under the hot sun as the barren pitch offered no assistance to either the fast bowlers or the spinners.
Jayawardene and Thilan Samaraweera, who resumed at the overnight score of 275-3, put on 138 for the fourth wicket to build on opener Tillakaratne Dilshan's century on the second day.
Samaraweera was dismissed for 70, but all-rounder Angelo Mathews helped Jayawardene add 43 for the fifth wicket before falling to a controversial decision in the last over before lunch.
Mathews, who made 17, was declared caught at forward short-leg by Australian umpire Daryl Harper even as replays showed the ball from Harbhajan bounce off the batsman's pad.
Earlier, Jayawardene and Samaraweera saw off 10 overs of spin before Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni claimed the second new ball as soon as it was due, in the 81st over with the total at 306.
The pair added 26 more runs when lanky seamer Ishant Sharma broke through as Samaraweera pulled a short ball to square-leg, where Yuvraj Singh moved quickly to his right to hold a smart catch.
Sri Lanka, looking for their first Test win on Indian soil, are playing three Tests, two Twenty20 matches and five one-day internationals on the seven-week tour.
Scoreboard at the end of the third day's play
India first innings:
Gautam Gambhir b Welegedara 1
Virender Sehwag lbw b Welegedara 16
Rahul Dravid b Welegedara 177
Sachin Tendulkar b Welegedara 4
V.V.S. Laxman b Prasad 0
Yuvraj Singh c Dilshan b Muralitharan 68
Mahendra Singh Dhoni c Jayawardene b Prasad 110
Harbhajan Singh b Muralitharan 22
Zaheer Khan lbw Herath 12
Amit Mishra not out 7
Ishant Sharma st Prasanna b Muralitharan 0
Extras: (b 2, lb 2, w 1, nb 4) 9
Total: (all out in 104.5 overs) 426
Fall of wickets: 1-14 (Gambhir, 2.5 overs), 2-27 (Sehwag, 6.1), 3-31 (Tendulkar, 6.4), 4-32 (Laxman, 7.4), 5-157 (Yuvraj, 36.1), 6-381 (Dhoni, 87.1), 7-389 (Dravid, 92.4), 8-414 (Khan, 101.2), 9-426 (Harbhajan, 104.1)
Bowling:
Chanaka Welegedara 22-4-87-4
Dammika Prasad 22-1-106-2
Angelo Mathews 12-1-50-0
Muttiah Muralitharan 25.5-4-97-3
Rangana Herath 22-2-79-1
Tillakaratne Dilshan 1-0-3-0
Sri Lanka first innings: (overnight 275/3)
Tillekaratane Dilshan c Dravid b Khan 112
Tharanga Paranavitana c Dhoni b Sharma 35
Kumar Sangakkara c Tendulkar b Khan 31
Mahela Jayawardene batting 204
Thilan Samaraweera c Yuvraj b Sharma 70
Angelo Matthews c Gambhir b Harbhajan 17
Prasanna Jayawardene batting 84
Extras: (b 5, lb 13, w 3, nb 17) 38
Total: (for five wickets in 160 overs) 591
Fall of wickets: 1-74 (Paranavitana, 16.5 overs), 2-189 (Dilshan, 43.1), 3-194 (Sangakkara, 45.3), 4-332 (Samaraweera, 86.4), 5-375 (Mathews, 96.2)
Bowling:
Zaheer Khan 30-4-93-2
Ishant Sharma 28-0-108-2
Harbhajan Singh 39-3-151-1
Amit Mishra 43-6-152-0
Yuvraj Singh 13-1-49-0
Sachin Tendulkar 7-0-20-0
Toss: India chose to bat
Umpires: Daryl Harper (Australia) and Tony Hill (New Zealand)
TV umpire: Amiesh Saheba (India)
Match referee: Jeff Crowe (New Zealand)
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