India win to level series

India staged a remarkable fight-back to win the second cricket Test against Sri Lanka by 170 runs with a day to spare in Galle.

The Indian cricket captain, Anil Kumble, second right, is congratulated by teammates after the dismissal of Sri Lanka's Nuwan Kulasekera.

GALLE // India staged a remarkable fight-back to win the second cricket Test against Sri Lanka by 170 runs with a day to spare at the Galle International Stadium yesterday after setting the home side a 307-run target. The paceman Ishant Sharma ripped through the Sri Lankan top order batting to leave the home side in deep trouble before the spinner Harbhajan Singh captured four wickets to ensure that India bundled their opponents for a pathetic 136 shortly after the tea interval. Sri Lanka had no formula to counter the fiery pace of Sharma, who dismissed the opener Malinda Warnapura for a duck in his first over before having the in-form Mahela Jayawardene caught at gully by Rahul Dravid. In between, Zaheer Khan accounted for Kumar Sangakkara to leave the host reeling at 10-3. Sharma then came back to destroy any hope Sri Lanka had of staging a comeback when he had the set middle-order batsman Tillekaratne Dilshan caught behind by Dinesh Karthik for 38 as India came in to perform the last rites. Only Thilan Samaraweera with an unbeaten 67 with eight fours put up some resistance. He shared a 76-run stand with Dilshan after Harbhajan had removed opener Michael Vandort for 10 in his first over to leave them tottering at 37-4. The Indian skipper Anil Kumble said after the game he was not surprised the way he came back after losing the first Test while paying a tribute to opening batsman Virender Sehwag whose 200 in the first innings, followed by a 50 in the second, was crucial. "Sehwag scoring 201 in a total of 329 was amazing. He played two superb knocks in both innings to ensure we had a decent score to defend. The opening wicket partnerships were very crucial for us. "We have regrouped and done it in the past and the way our openers batted and Sharma and Harbhajan bowled augurs well for the third Test", said Kumble. The deciding Test starts on Friday at the P Saravanamuttu stadium in Colombo. The Sri Lanka skipper Mahela Jayawardene said the way Sri Lanka set about going for the target was inexcusable. "Restricting India to a 269 total in the second innings was brilliant. Our batting was not consistent and that's where we lost. A target of 307 was a good score to chase and we didn't get the ideal start," said Jayawardene. India, resuming at 200-4, added 21 before Ajantha Mendis struck with the familiar carrom-ball delivery to remove VVS Laxman enroute to picking up his first 10-wicket haul in only the second Test match. Muttiah Muralitharan then removed Karthik and Sourav Ganguly in two overs to engineer a collapse in which five Indian wickets fell for 14 runs. Sri Lanka's run-chase began disastrously with three wickets falling in three overs. It could have been four, had Dravid held Vandort at second slip off Zaheer's delivery. But with in-form batsmen Warnapura, Sangakkara and Jayawardene back in the pavilion after three eventful overs, an Indian victory was imminent. @Email:[e-mail]