Colombo: It was Suresh Raina who decided to end this third Test with a flourish. All of which suggested he and VVS Laxman have no issues over the dropped first innings catch that he tried to poach before lunch on Day One.Well, so they shouldn’t. It was an accident. Just a little eagerness that proved costly at the time.
Dropping the Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara, when he did, could have led to this third Test being over far quicker and no need for a fourth day. Then again, the missed chance before lunch by the normally alert Tillakaratne Dilshan who spilled the offering made by Sachin Tendulkar when he was 18 and the second innings score 67 for four – still some 193 runs in arrears - explains the frustrations the locals felt at the time.
You cannot afford to drop someone like Tendulkar; giving him a 'life' amounts to suggesting that Sri Lanka wanted to make a parting gift to India and Tendulkar in what had been most likely his last Test on the emerald isle. It was one of two turning points in the innings. The second was the bowling of Ajantha Mendis. The mystery man of 2008 had become almost as bad as a net bowler; his deliveries were the same you can face by adjusting any bowling machine.Also, the pre-lunch field placings had everyone confused of just what were Sangakkara's ideas and what gameplan was he employing. It also suggested there maybe some truth in the comments offered by Nishantha Ranatunga: Sri Lanka no longer have a match-winning bowling attack. Two Tests into the post-Muttiah Muralitharan era and it is not looking so cushy.
India, with a bowling lineup that has a series of question marks hanging around their strategy, managed to take 20 wickets in the Test that counted and one where India squared the series 1-1. A series that, at the close of Day Four with the score line 53 for three after 18 overs, was on a knife edge and the sweatlined brow of Tendulkar and the ungainly nightwatchman Ishant Sharma the not out batsmen.
What happened in the following 50.3 overs and one and a half sessions later, it was all over when Raina had enough messing around. What an awesome batsman. Only a brave soul would call him the new 'Sachin' but he is in that category. His place as a member of the famed 'Fab Four', when one of the others retires, is a certainty.
Sri Lanka are going to find it hard without the wizardry of Muralitharan. And with no obvious replacement, as well as being suckered into using Mendis, these are part of the reasons Sri Lanka conceded defeat for the first time at P Sara Oval since 1994.
While India were good value for their five-wickets victory, there was the feeling that Sri Lanka lacked the ammunition and the intensity needed to pull off 2-0 series success in this series. It is why their ranking will slip down the ladder even further and rely on beating teams like Bangladesh and West Indies to keep sight of the No. 1 ranking.
In 1994, Sri Lanka last lost by the hefty margin of 301 runs at P Sara Oval. Since then, they have made it a fortress where they have had a run of unbelievable success until now. They did escape with a one wicket win over South Africa in 2006 when a dropped catch cost the visitors.
With no Murali, there were no fieldsmen crowding the batsmen on a pitch where the little magician has had some impressive success. It is going to be hard for locals to accept that they could not in the end beat an Indian side.
Sangakkara didn't seem to read the game too well at times and force the batsmen to making mistakes. His use of the talented Suraj Randiv in long spells, and this didn't help their cause, almost turned the off-spinner into a medium-pacer.
Yet the other problem he had is that neither Lasith Malinga, so much the danger in Galle, lacked penetration nor Mendis, looked more like a net bowler than the threat he was in 2008, failed to take wickets in the second innings, conceding 114 runs in 26 overs.
For those recalling Kandy 2001, when India last won a Test on the island, it was the captain Sourav Ganguly whose innings eased the visitors home by seven wickets with a skilled undefeated inning of 98 chasing down the 264 needed.
This time India found another hero, the man who had made the Eden Gardens miracle of 2001 possible with Rahul Dravid. Laxman, batting through the pain barrier of back spasms and cramps, and later with the need of a runner (Virender Sehwag), put together his 16th Test century to grab Man of the Match award.
This five-wicket victory was achieved without a recognised frontline bowling attack and emerging spinners. It is why the batsmen needed to pull their performances together. In the first Test in Galle, it was shaky and Laxman struggled to find his rhythm in a match that was Muralitharan's last. On that slab of Stonehenge provided for the second Test at the Sinhalese Sports Club, there was some entertainment for those who enjoy batting-factory conditions.
This time though, he pulled together a first innings half-century that was so typically full of the Laxman panache: fluent drives, elegant cuts and fancy foot and wristwork. The tall Hyderabad batsman, now closing in on 36, showed off his elegance only the way someone of his ability can. Why ask for a second-hand car engine when the smooth Rolls-Royce is available.
There may have been a few moments of concern in the target chase when Tendulkar fell for 54, the ball brushing the bottom of the glove with the total on 171 and the target still some 86 runs off. A lot could still happen at that time. Teams have collapsed for a lot less and capitulated from a winning position.
It needed cool heads and assured batting technique to bring sanity back to the gameplan. After some initial hesitancy with Suresh Raina as the new partner, and getting used to a runner, it was impressive. Laxman's aching back was all too obvious when on the drive or playing the ball behind and the grimaces of pain displaying the agony. How much longer this could go on is a question that would have crossed the thoughts of the management team.
This is when Raina decided he would finish it off and attack the bowling with the maturity he has shown when scoring that debut century. It was his six over long-on off, off the left-handed Chanaka Welegedara, that seemingly sent the clear message, "Okay guys, enough lets finish this off!" And he did.
