India vs Sri Lanka,Sri Lanka in India Test Series(2005)- 1st Test
Date:2-6 Dec 2005
On a day whose events were purely of academic interest, thanks to cyclone-induced rain washing out the first three-and-a-half days of play, Sri Lanka dominated, grabbing a bit of the psychological advantage for the rest of the series. A probing spell of left-arm seam from Chaminda Vaas engineered an Indian collapse, for their lowest-ever total against Sri Lanka, before the batsmen, led by the classy Mahela Jayawardene, managed some useful practice ahead of the second Test at Delhi in four days' time.
For most of last week, there was no respite from the rain. On the final morning, it was more like a drought, not water but runs, with the batsmen managing just 19 runs in the first 20 overs of the day, including a period when they endured 38 consecutive dot balls. Staggeringly, Vaas's first 11 overs of the day were maidens - the greybeards in the crowd probably harked back to nearly 42 years back when Bapu Nadkarni sent down 23 consecutive maidens in this city - and both Muttiah Muralitharan, who equalled Anil Kumble's record for 24 caught-and-bowled dismissals, and Malinga Bandara, the legspinner, posed plenty of problems.
Countering Murali on a sluggish surface on one's Test debut can be a nervy prospect, but Dhoni backed himself and wasn't afraid to loft the ball over the fielders. In 54 deliveries, he scored more fours than what both Dravid and Tendulkar had managed in 231, and made sure he wasn't bogged down by rotating the strike.
Dhoni's performance in the 1st innings:
Catches :1 / Stumpings : 0
Batting: 30 runs (54 balls), 4s: 6 / 6s: 0
Strike Rate: 55.55
Dhoni's performance in the 2nd innings:
2nd innings was not played
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