It's not going very well would be an understatement for India. In fact nothing seems to have gone right for them, barring the Rahul Dravid partnerships, and it will take some effort to dig themselves out of here after the third day's play at Motera, Ahmedabad. But do they looked motivated enough, in the same tone as Sri Lanka who appear determined to bury their no Test win record in India?
mahela jayawardene3
It is easy to explain India's toil - a flatter pitch, and even flatter bowlers. For Sri Lanka though, the task still needed someone to exploit the situation and fortunately for the team from the Emerald Isles, they have men in plenty.
Mahela Jayawardene and Prasanna Jayawardene carried on from where they left off, at 483 for five at tea, though not quite as some may have expected. There were no fireworks, in trying to extend the lead. But perhaps Sri Lanka are working on 'the slow and steady win the race' theory.
Steady they were in their task. The same though could not be said for India. Mahendra Singh Dhoni rotated his bowlers, sometimes even surprisingly have Amit Mishra bowl against the norm, going around the wicket. But India appeared to be going through the motions, nothing in their body language suggested they were interested in saving the runs, in keeping the batsmen on strike and preventing them from keeping the scoreboard moving further and further away from India.
Perhaps India are working on the gamble that the pitch will have eased up enough to allow them to chase the lead of 165. But if so, that is a gamble dangerous on home turf, and here at Motera in Ahmedabad. Sri Lanka will perhaps look to complete the first session with a sizable lead and set India on by lunch on day four.
A 200 run partnership for the sixth wicket was not what India were anticipating, taking the wicket of Angelo Matthews at lunch time with the score on 375 for five. And they certainly didn't expect to run into a 'wall' in two Jayawardenes, not one.
Mahela scored his sixth double century and it is not over yet for India as Sri Lanka finish on 591 for five, Mahela unbeaten on 204, Prasanna unbeaten on eighty-four when play was called off for the day.
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