Sri Lanka v India, Day 4, Morning Session

It was an absorbing session of play. This has become a bit of a cliche and is invariably used whenever there is a contest between bat and ball. But it is an appropriating adjective, and it is worth delving a bit deeper into what it might mean. India began the day with Kumble and Laxman, Sri Lanka with their two spinners. Yesterday's play showed that the Indians pick Muralitharan, but not Mendis. Mendis will take some getting used to.

The early running was made by Sri Lanka. Mendis and Murali ran through Kumble, Harbhajan and Zaheer in quick time. Then came Ishant Sharma, who proceeded to demonstrate a basic understanding of what was going on, which is beyond his years. He used his reach and played dead straight. At the other end, VVS Laxman, in a familiar role, took nearly every run on offer, and India stretched their first innings till lunch. Sharma was looking impregnable and VVS was his usual calm self. Both watched the ball carefully and played off the pitch whenever possible. In this, Ishant was particularly impressive - his judgement of length was quite spectacular and was almost never caught on the crease against the spin. He played late and he played with a soft touch.

The canny Jayawardene took Mendis off, and brought on Nuwan Kulasekara, who then gave us a demonstration of just what i meant when i referred to the Sri Lankan ability to play professional cricket. Kulasekara is a medium pacer - he is not very tall, doesn't have too much pace. What he does do however, is do the basics right - bowl wicket to wicket. With the older ball, there was some reverse available, but what was impressive was the line and length that Kulasekara delivered from ball one. He had to be watched carefully, and even if it was possible to play him quite easily in the end, he did not concede anything by trying outlandish things. He made the batsman play.

The innings was terminated with the over of the match so far. Mendis returned and began with two of his special leg cutters (like the one which got Dravid), both of which went past VVS Laxman's outside edge. Laxman did nothing wrong, but since he is not able to read Mendis from the hand, or in the air, all he could do was push forward and cover his stumps. The length was such that he couldn't hang back and play the ball off the wicket. Mendis then reverted to a slower off-break which Laxman watched carefully and played to short-leg. This was followed by a classical off-break pitched on the perfect length outside off-stump. It drew Laxman forward. The memory of the two leg cutters fresh in his memory, Laxman's forward prod was more tentative than usual. This was enough for the ball to sneak in between bat and pad and take VVS's off stump. It was truly brilliant bowling.

In this short innings, Mendis has shown amazing control over length and over his variations. After his early jitters, he settled down and rarely bowled a bad ball. Bowling with Murali helps, but it says something about the young spinner, that Murali at his best did not put him in the shade.

India's batsmen have their hands full - in this game and in the next two. The more interesting consequence however, will be for Kumble and Harbhajan Singh, who are for once faced with a side which can match the depth of spin bowling that they can offer.

This may in fact be a classic example of home advantage, but Sri Lanka have looked more skillful and better prepared than India in these three days of Test Cricket.