Sri Lanka won by an innings and 77 runs
Full report follows shortly.

Close - India 217 for 6 (H Badani 8*, S Dighe 4*)

Having attacked, ridden their luck, blunted and resisted for two sessions, India stumbled to 217 for 6 by stumps on day four of the decisive Colombo Test. The almost inevitable collapse left Muttiah Muralitharan and comrades an entire day to polish off a hardly waggy tail, and seal the series for Sri Lanka by two Tests to one.

But while Muralitharan was typically irresistible, India had dug their own graves when two critical run-outs after tea ended their admirable defiance. The first run-out victim was Rahul Dravid - the only Indian genuinely capable of stonewalling his way through two days of cricket. With the total on 186 and Dravid on 36, he timed a Murali full-toss to mid-on, but Marvan Atapattu found him short with an awesome direct hit.

The last thing India needed at that stage was another run-out. But that's precisely what Sourav Ganguly gifted Sri Lanka. Having turned the ball square on the leg side Ganguly invited Mohammad Kaif to come through for a single, but waited until he was more than halfway down the track to rethink the call and send Kaif back. Kumar Sangakkara ran around from behind the stumps and relayed a throw to Thilan Samaraweera at the bowler's end to terminate Kaif's 30-ball innings of 5.

As if a century and an assist in a critical run-out were not enough, debutant Samaraweera then lured Ganguly into a defensive prod and drew the edge that carried to Mahela Jayawardene at slip. That was 210 for 5 and it was soon 211 for 6 when Sairaj Bahutule, promoted to No. 7 for no good reason, shouldered arms to Sanath Jayasuriya and was bowled off the inside edge for 0. That wicket well and truly buried India.

All this on the day that had started so perfectly for India - from the moment Sadagoppan Ramesh punched Chaminda Vaas's first ball of the day through cover to show that he still can score on the off side. Das played a plucky and sparkling innings, taking the attack to Murali and prompting Jayasuriya to move back his catchers even with a 376-run lead.

Das's 68 was not chanceless. He received the benefit of Asoka de Silva's doubt when he was caught at short midwicket after the ball had ricocheted on to his boot off the inside edge, and Dilhara Fernando almost had him on two occasions: an inside edge that missed leg stump by centimetres, and a thick nick that flew where a third slip should have been. But in his last over before lunch, Murali had Das stunningly caught by Hashan Tillekeratne at silly point for 68.

The game almost came to a stand-still thereafter, before Murali pulled a rabbit out of his hat. From round the wicket and going wide off the crease, Murali angled one sharply into the left-handed Ramesh that fizzed past the outside edge from outside leg stump. Unbelievably, it went on to clip the top of off stump. Simply put, it was one of the best balls in Test history and if Ramesh stood his ground for a few moments to gather his senses, you could understand why. Murali thus ensured that no matter how many batsmen made centuries, this Test would always be remembered as his.

Rahul Bhattacharya is a staff writer with Wisden.com in India

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