Laxman leads Indian recovery after collapse

AHMEDABAD (India)—Venkatsai Laxman led India’s fightback with a solid half-century under pressure in the third and final Test against Sri Lanka here.
The middle-order batsman was unbeaten on 71 as India recovered from 97-5 to reach 247-6 at stumps on the opening day on Sunday. Irfan Pathan was batting on 39. Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan (3-76) and paceman Lasith Malinga (2-62) threatened to neutralise India’s advantage of winning the toss on a good batting pitch before Laxman and Mahendra Dhoni came to their team’s rescue.
Laxman and Dhoni (49) steadied the innings with their contrasting knocks, adding 86 for the sixth wicket to pull their team out of trouble. Laxman then put on 64 for the unfinished seventh-wicket stand with Pathan.
India lead 1-0 in the series following their 188-run win in the second Test at Delhi. The first Test ended in a draw at Chennai.
Laxman batted patiently for more than two sessions on a slow track, hitting nine fours in his 194-ball knock for his 24th Test half-century. Wicket-keeper Dhoni was the lone batsman to play shots with freedom against a disciplined Sri Lanka pace-spin combination, hitting seven fours in his 62-ball knock.
Muralitharan turned the ball sharply even on a first-day track as he dismissed champion batsman Sachin Tendulkar (23), Yuvraj Singh (nought) and well-set Dhoni.
India’s early problems came against Malinga, who bowled with a deceptive round-arm action to dismiss openers Gautam Gambhir (19) and Virender Sehwag (20) in his first match of the series.
Gambhir, who made five in the last two Tests, failed again playing a rash stroke. He attempted to hook an outside-the-off-stump delivery and was caught by debutant Upul Tharanga at mid-wicket.
Stand-in captain Sehwag was bamboozled by a Malinga delivery that came in sharply and rattled his stumps. He led the side in the absence of Rahul Dravid, who was ruled out of the match with a stomach upset.
Muralitharan then struck twice in the space of three deliveries, removing Tendulkar and Yuvraj as India lost four wickets for 74 runs in the afternoon session.
Leg-spinner Malinga Bandara also chipped in when he had Mohammad Kaif (four) caught pulling by skipper Marvan Atapattu at mid-wicket.
India found runs hard to come by in the afternoon session as even stroke-makers Tendulkar and Laxman failed to dominate the Sri Lankan attack.
Tendulkar, who smashed a world-record 35th Test century in the last match at Delhi, hardly looked at his best before being caught by Jehan Mubarak at short-leg off Muralitharan.
Yuvraj lasted two balls, caught by Thilan Samaraweera at first slip.
Sri Lanka, seeking a win here to square the series, did well to restrict India in the afternoon as they were without their new-ball pair of Chaminda Vaas and Dilhara Fernando who both have fevers.
Only 12 overs were bowled in the first session as the match started an hour late due to a wet outfield.
Leg-spinner Anil Kumble became the fifth Indian to figure in 100 Tests after all-rounder Kapil Dev (131) and batsmen Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar (125 each) and Dilip Vengsarkar (116).—Agencies