Close - Sri Lanka 13 for 0 (S Jayasuriya 10*, M Atapattu 2*) trail India (234) by 221 runs
A masterly display of off spin bowling by Muttiah Muralitharan turned this match on its head after a deceptively bat-dominated morning. In less than two sessions, Murali spun out eight batsmen to rout the Indians and swing the balance of the game completely in Sri Lanka's favour.

The match began with much promise for India, openers Shiv Sunder Das and Sadagoppan Ramesh stroking their way to 91 by lunch. Das not only handled the new ball far better than he had done at Kandy, but also drew first blood against Muralitharan, striking him for consecutive boundaries in his first over. Ramesh didn't look quite as assured when Murali bowled round the wicket, but managed to keep him out while scoring with customary tucks off his pad against the seam bowlers.

Their progress was more sluggish after lunch, and Sri Lanka finally broke through when Das charged Muralitharan but misread the flight of the ball and was bowled for 59.

That dismissal triggered a remarkable collapse. The next to go was Ramesh (46), who squandered his fourth start of the series when he drove at a Murali delivery that found the edge, Mahela Jayawardene taking the catch at slip.

Sourav Ganguly, a captain back in favour and a batsman back in form, followed four runs later, controversially adjudged lbw to Murali. He had taken two steps down the track when he padded up; the distance between the pad and the stumps was enough to cause reasonable doubt, but umpire Orchard felt otherwise. Ganguly shook his head in disbelief.

Rahul Dravid and Mohammad Kaif stopped the rot by batting resolutely for almost an hour. Kaif eventually broke out of his shell and began to play some attractive, orthodox shots. On the verge of tea the initiative was handed back to Sri Lanka when Kaif edged Chaminda Vaas to the wicketkeeper for 14. India had lost four wickets for the addition of just 64 runs in the session.

Dravid and Hemang Badani resumed with a flurry of boundaries, but Murali's double whammy with the score on 192 ended hopes of an Indian revival. Dravid was caught at bat-pad for 36, and then two balls later Sameer Dige was trapped lbw back in his crease for 0.

Badani powered on to 38, but was deceived by a vintage Murali off-break that beat him in flight and flew to Hashan Tillekeratne at gully. Vaas snuffed any hopes of a Harbhajan Singh comic cameo, leaving Murali to clean up the tail, ending with 8 for 87.

India bowled six overs before close but could not eek out a wicket. Their only solace came in the final over of the day as Harbhajan Singh extracted as much turn and bounce as Murali had earlier.

Rahul Bhattacharya is a staff writer with Wisden Online in India

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