India thump Sri Lanka for 100th Test victory

Kanpur: A dominant India took one-and-half sessions to complete the formalities and spank Sri Lanka by an innings and 144 runs in the second Test to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series here on Friday.

This turned out to be India's 100th Test victory in their 432nd outing.

The visitors began 57 for four and did their best to delay the inevitable before the Indians polished off the remnants of the Lankan resistance to complete a facile win with more than four sessions to spare.

Sri Lankans, who managed 229 in the first innings, did slightly better in their second essay, folding for 269.

India thus became the sixth nation to win 100 Test matches, following Australia (332), England (310), West Indies (152), South Africa (120) and Pakistan (102).

This was also India's biggest victory margin against the Lankans, in terms of innings. The previous mark was their thrashing of the islanders by an innings and 119 runs in the 1994 Lucknow Test.

With six wickets separating the Lankans from a defeat and two full days at India's disposal, the islanders' capitulation was just a matter of time and the four wickets they lost in the morning session only hastened their end.

Resuming at 57 for four, Sri Lanka were in for early jolt. Overnight batsmen Angelo Mathews (15) decided to counter-attack and chose out-of-rhythm Zaheer Khan for some harsh treatment.

Zaheer's overpitched first ball of the day was driven down the ground, his second -- a no ball -- was pulled to the fence with ferocity and his third -- again a no ball -- scorched the cover area grass before crossing the rope.

Two balls later, Zaheer banged it short and Mathews' pull was little premature. Rahul Dravid rushed from gully to pouch the top edge. The collective contribution of the Sri Lankan top order read a pathetic 79.

Prasanna Jayawardene (29) and Thilan Samaraweera (44) batted positively, scoring at a brisk pace while not doing anything silly. Samaraweera hit Sreesanth for three boundaries in the same over to assert himself, while Prasanna was not quiet either. The stumper-batsman drove Zaheer, pulled Sreesanth and swept Pragyan Ojha with elan but looked ill at ease against Harbhajan Singh.

Two streaky boundaries off Harbhajan exposed his discomfiture against the offie and the spinner finally pushed one through the gate to rearrange the timbers and snap the sixth-wicket stand that yielded 61 runs for the beleaguered islanders.

Rangana Herath (13) hit Harbhajan for back-to-back boundaries before the offie trapped him plumb in front.

Muttiah Muralitharan played a typical entertaining 11-ball knock of 29. The first three balls he faced, from Harbhajan, were hit for 6,4,4. The first one cleared long on ropes and the next two went over mid-wicket.

Muralitharan then went after Ojha, hitting him over long on for his second six but completely missed the line as the next delivery pegged back his stumps. Samaraweera and Mendis, who hit a career-best 27, however, refused to throw in the towel and dug their heels to frustrate the Indian players for about 20 overs.

The fact that the intensity of the Indians sagged after three days of dominance also helped their cause. Mendis survived 74 balls before the 75th, sent down by Yuvraj Singh, trapped him in front of wicket to snap the 73-run stand. Ojha then caught Chanaka Welegedara (4) off his own bowling to complete the win.