Tendulkar double ton takes India to safety

India's Tendulkar raises his bat to celebrate scoring his half century against Sri Lanka during the third day of their second test cricket match in Colombo. (Reuters)

By KRISHAN FRANCIS | AP

COLOMBO: Sachin Tendulkar scored his fifth double-century in Test cricket to help India reach 669-9 at stumps on day four Thursday, as the second Test against Sri Lanka headed toward a draw.

Tendulkar shared 256 runs for the fifth wicket with Suresh Raina, who scored a debut century in India's reply to Sri Lanka's first innings score of 642-4 declared.

With a 27-run first innings lead for India and just a day's play remaining, the match is heading to a draw at Sinhalese Sports Club.

Offspin bowler Tillakaratne Dilshan took two wickets in the third over after tea having Tendulkar caught by wicketkeeper Prasanna Jayawardene for 203 runs and Harbhajan Singh caught by Kumar Sangakkara without scoring.

But the pitch at SSC continues to favor batting with even tailender Abhimanyu Mithun batting unthreatened until he scored 41 and got out to a loose shot.

Five centuries have been scored during the four days with Kumar Sangakkara (219) and Tendulkar scoring double hundreds, besides Mahela Jayawardene's 174, Tharanga Paranavitana's 100 and Raina's 120.

Five half-centuries were also scored.

Raina was the first batsman to be dismissed for the day for 120 runs caught by Sangakkara at mid-wicket off spinner Ajantha Mendis.

He faced 228 balls, hit 12 boundaries and two sixes in his debut Test match. Raina was only ninth Indian to score a century on debut.

Tendulkar spent 347 balls for his runs, which included 23 boundaries and a six. Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni made 76.

India was vulnerably placed on 241-4 on Wednesday needing 200 more runs to avoid the follow-on when Tendulkar and Raina paired together.

Tendulkar made Sri Lanka pay for a dropped catch by wicketkeeper Prasanna Jayawardene off seamer Dilhara Fernando when he was 29 runs, scoring his sixth Test century for 2010.

Mendis returned best bowling figures 4-157 for Sri Lanka while Dilshan had 3-50.

Sri Lanka leads the three-match series 1-0.

 

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