NEW DELHI, 15 December 2005 — Anil Kumble was once again among the wickets as India achieved a resounding 188-run victory over Sri Lanka on the final day of the second Test at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground here yesterday.
The 35-year-old leg-spinner bagged four second innings wickets to finish with his eighth 10-wicket haul in Tests. He helped dismiss Sri Lanka for 247 after they had been set a daunting 436-run target.
Kumble took two of those wickets yesterday as Sri Lanka, resuming on 125-3, folded up 41 minutes after lunch with Mahela Jayawardene (67) the only one to offer resistence on the final day.
Tendulkar top-scored in the match with 109 in the first innings to pass compatriot Sunil Gavaskar in the list of century-makers in Tests.
Kumble, who bagged all 10 wickets in a Test innings against Pakistan here in 1999, rekindled that memory with another fine performance.
He bowled Tillakaratne Dilshan (32) in the first session and followed it up in the second with the scalp of Chaminda Vaas (17) who was caught by Harbhajan Singh at mid-wicket while trying to play a pull shot. “This has been a very good win but all credit to our batsmen for setting it up for the bowlers,” said Kumble, who took 4-85 in the second innings to finish with a match haul of 10-157.
Kumble was supported well by off-spinner Harbhajan who chipped in with two wickets to finish with 3-70.
Harbhajan removed a determined Jayawardene, who batted for 205 minutes in a bid to prolong the inevitable. He struck seven fours off 164 balls before being caught at short-leg by Gautam Gambhir.
Harbhajan also took the wicket of last man Muttiah Muralitharan as the batsman heaved the ball high in the air for wicketkeeper Mahendra Dhoni to take an easy catch.
The fall of Muralitharan’s wicket trigered victory celebrations among the Indian players. It was their sixth consecutive win at the venue.
Sri Lankan skipper Marvan Atapattu said his team had done well in patches and could lift themselves for the third and final match to be played in Ahmedabad from Sunday. The first rain-hit Test was drawn.
Ganguly Dropped for Third
Test Against Sri Lanka
Deposed captain Saurav Ganguly has been dropped from India’s 15-man squad for the third test against Sri Lanka starting in Ahmedabad yesterday. The 33-year-old left-hander, India’s most successful captain, was sacked after five years as skipper and dropped from the one-day team in October due to a prolonged batting slump and a row with coach Greg Chappell. Ganguly retained his place in the side for the first two Tests, but was discarded after scoring 40 and 39 in the second match which India won by 188 runs yesterday.
