FLUMMOXED: V.V.S. Laxman succumbs again to Ajantha Mendis, stumped this time. It is the fifth time in as many innings that the stylish right-hander has been snared by the Lankan spinner in this series.

Colombo: Sri Lanka dismissed India for 249 on the first day of the crucial third Test, gaining the ascendancy through Ajantha Mendis’s five for 56 after being asked to bowl.

It was Mendis’s fifth successive haul of four wickets or more, and it curtailed an Indian innings that was curiously book-ended by two partnerships of 51. India’s famed middle-order didn’t enhance its reputation, the Fab Four managing a mere 76 among them.

Sri Lanka finished Friday on 14 for one in reply.

Earlier, India’s openers affected a manner of assured urgency on a cloudy morning, making the most of some undisciplined new-ball bowling, to race past 50 in just over half an hour. In between, Virender Sehwag was dropped at short square-leg off Chaminda Vaas, the batsman eventually swallowing the baited short-pitched delivery, before nearly being run out.

Prasad pacy

The control Mahela Jayawardene wished to exert over India’s openers, who had sparked similarly busy starts in both innings at Galle, was being compromised. The Sri Lankan captain, although visibly frustrated, persevered with Dammika Prasad.

The debutant reached speeds of 140 kmph, once touching 145, with a bustling, muscly, direct action; but the tendency of his head to fall away at delivery caused him to spray the odd ball like an out-of-control hose. When he got everything together, however, he tested the batsman.

Having been welted on the hand by a cracking Sehwag drive, Prasad let the batsman have a delivery that straightened like a curly strand through a hair iron. Sehwag had to play the ball, such was its line. The resultant nick was pouched by Prasanna Jayawardene, the wicketkeeper.

Double blow

Prasad then switched ends, reduced his pace a fraction to the mid-to-high 130s, and struck a vital double blow. He snared both Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar with deliveries that swung in — not dramatic, arcing swing, but enough to defeat the strokes intended.

Dravid, having dealt securely with Mendis, playing with bat well in front of pad, stretched too far across to Prasad, his front foot outside the delivery’s launched line. Umpire Mark Benson deemed that the batsman had hit it, prompting Jayawardene to ask for a review.

Replays showed ball eluding bat; the impact on the front pad was on off-stump — but only just. With the evidence available to Benson, he had to overturn his decision. Tendulkar referred his leg-before decision, and although it appeared to the naked eye as if the ball might have slipped down the leg-side, replays suggested that Benson’s initial estimate was defensible.

Third fifty

India went to lunch at 104 for three, with Gambhir having batted beautifully for his third consecutive half-century. The left-handed opener bested Vaas in an intriguing battle. The left-armer swung deliveries away from Gambhir, testing his ability to keep his shape and not thrust with his bottom hand.

Gambhir countered by playing outside the line, often advancing off the wrong foot with a Hayden-like two step. From this position, Gambhir picked the gap between mid-wicket and mid-on. He pulled the inevitable short stuff that followed. The 26-year-old also picked Mendis and Muralitharan from the hand, leaving deliveries with authority.

Just as Gambhir and Sourav Ganguly seemed to have wrestled back the initiative, taking India to 151 for three, Muralitharan struck. Ganguly, who had charged the off-spinner and struck him for a towering straight six, succumbed to indecision. His bat remained in the way of a quickish off-break, like an overzealous valet disinclined to leave, and Mahela held the catch at slip.

Smart instinct

Gambhir was done in by a smart piece of bowling, and an even smarter show of instinct. Mendis, who had trapped the left-hander in front with a googly at Galle (ball striking pad before bat in the squeezed-together defensive stroke), did the same with an off-break.

Mahela recognised immediately the situation, and the referral returned a favourable verdict for Sri Lanka. V.V.S. Laxman and Parthiv Patel tried to get a partnership started, finding limited success before Mendis deceived Laxman for the fifth time in as many innings. The dismissal showcased both Mendis and Prasanna Jayawardene. The carom ball had Laxman overbalancing — the batsman wristed a non-existent ball to the leg-side, while the real thing slipped past having cut away from the right-hander. Prasanna’s collection and removal of bails was fluidity itself.

Parthiv fell leg before to another carom ball; Kumble played outside a cunning Mendis googly; Harbhajan swiped fatally at Muralitharan: India crashed to 198 for nine.

Ishant and Zaheer applied themselves admirably, showing how it’s done and delaying their bowling stint. Zaheer struck out boldly from time to time, swinging Muralitharan for six and hitting Prasad through cover in a manner befitting a Caribbean. By the time he fell to another splendid bit of work from Prasanna — the keeper collecting softly a high-bouncing Mendis googly and disturbing the stumps before the batsman got back — Zaheer had offered India some succour.

Ishant then ensured India would end Friday in good spirits, bowling Warnapura behind his legs. Much work remains for India if it is to continue to have designs on the series — Saturday’s first session will be vital.

SCOREBOARD

  India — 1st innings: G. Gambhir lbw b Mendis 72, V. Sehwag c P. Jayawardene b Prasad 21, R. Dravid lbw b Prasad 10, S. Tendulkar lbw b Prasad 6, S. Ganguly c M. Jayawardene b Muralitharan 35, V.V.S. Laxman st P. Jayawardene b Mendis 25, P. Patel lbw b Mendis 13, A. Kumble b Mendis 1, Harbhajan c Vandort b Muralitharan 3, Ishant (not out) 17, Zaheer st P. Jayawardene b Mendis 32, Extras (b-1, lb-8, nb-5) 14; Total (in 80 overs) 249.

Fall of wickets: 1-51 (Sehwag), 2-92 (Dravid), 3-102 (Tendulkar), 4-151 (Ganguly), 5-155 (Gambhir), 6-190 (Laxman), 7-195 (Patel), 8-196 (Kumble), 9-198 (Harbhajan).

Sri Lanka bowling: Vaas 12-1-44-0, Prasad 17-0-82-3, Mendis 28-4-56-5, Muralitharan 23-3-58-2.

Sri Lanka — 1st innings: M. Vandort (batting) 3, M. Warnapura b Ishant 8, C. Vaas (batting) 0, Extras (b-1, lb-2) 3; Total (for one wicket in eight overs) 14.

Fall of wicket: 1-14 (Warnapura).

India bowling: Zaheer 4-1-9-0, Ishant 4-2-2-1.