Sri Lanka beat India by 10 wickets India's death rattle on the fourth morning lasted much longer than expected. It took Sri Lanka all of 70 minutes to wrap up a ten-wicket win and, with it, a third successive victory at Galle.

Rahul Dravid and Venkatesh Prasad gave the Sri Lankans the runaround for almost an hour, and they made sure that the humiliation of an innings defeat was avoided. But it was the kind of meaningless gesture that one has come to expect from Indian teams down the years. Such spirited defiance would have come in useful on the first three days, when they were as meek as cattle being led to the abattoir.

Prasad started off the morning with a firm push to long-on for three, followed by a flicked boundary to square leg as Dilhara Fernando took time to warm up. Dravid took the cue from his partner, and pulled Muralitharan to the midwicket fence in the next over. It was all heavily tinged with farce, like the drunken rabble-rouser at the bar being indulged by the sober guy. You know that the decisive punch is just a moment of misplaced aggression away.

Dravid pulled a short ball from Murali to the midwicket fence to bring up his fifty as India edged closer to the 175 they needed to make Sri Lanka bat again. Prasad is unlikely ever to disturb the status quo at the top of the Wisden 100 batting list, but he saw off 66 deliveries. It was a damning indictment of the front-line boys who just dropped their weapons and ran.

A Dravid cover-drive off Sanath Jayasuriya gave India a lead that had looked unlikely at 120 for 8. Murali then decided that enough was enough, and a flighted offbreak caught Prasad plumb in front. That gave Murali five wickets in an innings for the 25th time in Tests. With Javagal Srinath safely wrapped up in cotton wool, that meant India were all out for 180, which left Sri Lanka needing six to win. It lasted 11 balls before Jayasuriya played one of his patented slashes over point to get the series off to a perfect start.

England and South Africa bounced back from heavy defeats at Galle last season. It remains to be seen whether this Indian side has the collective desire to replicate those comebacks. Based on this abysmal showing, you wouldn't put your pocket-money on it.

Dileep Premachandran is assistant editor of Wisden Online India

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