India 1st innings R M B 4s 6s SR
View dismissal M Vijay lbw b Herath 87 177 121 10 1 71.90
39.1 Trapped in front. He is livid with himself for his shot selection. It was the full delivery, the carrom-ball on the middle stump line, really full and Vijay went for the sweep; too full to sweep and he missed it completely. Dead duck. But what a fine innings it has been from him. Very easy on the eye. Sehwag pats him on the helmet as he walks past. 221/1
View dismissal V Sehwag c & b Muralitharan 293 366 254 40 7 115.35
82.2 The goggle-eyed Murali smiles. It has taken a long time in coming and what a wicket to take. Virender Sehwag falls after a scintillating innings that will be remembered for a long time. It was a lovely loopy delivery, from round the stumps, dipping in front of Sehwag who reaches out and ends up scooping it straight back to Murali. Murali doesn't take it cleanly, the ball pops out, but he holds his nerves to collect it on the rebound. A champion entertainer walks back to a standing ovation. 458/2
View dismissal R Dravid c †HAPW Jayawardene b Welegedara 74 217 147 5 1 50.34
89.6 Ah! That ploy works. Dravid loses patience and goes after a full delivery well outside off .., memories of how Mitchell Johnson took him out during Australia's tour of India. Another fine solid knock from Rahul. An immensely better morning for Sri Lanka. 487/3
View dismissal SR Tendulkar b Kulasekara 53 139 103 6 0 51.45
114.2 The off cutter does the trick. It moved in from a length, from outside off stump, Tendulkar went for the on-the-up drive but the ball collided with the inner edge and it sneaked in through the bat and pad gap to clip the off stump. Clatter! Kulasekara is delighted. 558/4
View dismissal VVS Laxman c Kulasekara b Muralitharan 62 154 91 8 0 68.13
122.4 Murali strikes. Done in the flight. Laxman rushed down the track and went for the lofted shot over wide midwicket but ended up slicing it off the outer edge behind the bowler. Mid-on moved to his left to collect that. 591/5
View dismissal Yuvraj Singh c Mathews b Herath 23 61 42 2 0 54.76
127.2 Herath picks up a wicket. A just reward for a fine spell. It was floated outside off, drifting away, Yuvraj went for the big shot but sliced it away to deepish mid-off.. The man was placed between conventional mid-off and long-off and it went straight to him. 610/6
MS Dhoni*† not out 100 154 154 3 6 64.93
View dismissal Harbhajan Singh b Muralitharan 1 5 3 0 0 33.33
128.2 It was flighted outside leg stump and Harbhajan went for the reverse sweep but only managed to get a bottom-edge. Fatal. Third wicket for Muralitharan. 615/7
View dismissal Z Khan c Kulasekara b Muralitharan 7 51 51 0 0 13.72
144.6 Zaheer goes for the big lofted hit to long-on and Kulasekara back-pedaled from deepish mid-on position to take a good catch, arching back over his shoulder .. Wicket no 4 for Murali 647/8
View dismissal S Sreesanth lbw b Herath 8 26 11 1 0 72.72
151.4 The carrom ball gets him another wicket. It broke back in, Sreesanth had a waft across the line and was hit on the back pad. 670/9
PP Ojha not out 5 51 14 1 0 35.71
Extras (lb 3, nb 10) 13
Total (9 wickets dec; 163.3 overs; 705 mins) 726 (4.44 runs per over)
Now that's a good Scorecard to end Day 3 with
