Close India 14 for 0 (Sehwag 13*, Mongia 1*) v Sri Lanka 244 for 5 (Jayasuriya 74, Harbhajan 3-27) - No Result

What had promised to be a fine contest between fine spinners and fine players of spin on a turning track became just another game of cricket which will need to be played all over again. Virender Sehwag had blasted his way to 13 off five deliveries as India reached 14 for no loss after two overs in pursuit of Sri Lanka's 244, when a sharp burst of rain killed the day. Tomorrow, a fresh final awaits.

Sri Lanka's total was at least 30 runs short of what they might have expected halfway through the innings but with the pitch taking more spin with every ball and Muttiah Muralitharan, Kumar Dharmasena, Sanath Jayasuriya and Aravinda de Silva in their ranks, it threatened to be enough.

It was an innings in two parts – While Jayasuriya and Post Jayasuriya. While Jayasuriya brought 155 runs in 31 overs for one wicket. With nine wickets in hand, even 300 looked possible from that point. He was iffy rather than biffy at the start, but kept getting better and kept steadily increasing momentum till his innings seemed to buckle under its own weight.

Jayasuriya was on 74 when he mistimed a pull off Ajit Agarkar, and Harbhajan Singh sprinted back full tilt from mid-off and held on by his fingertips to complete a tumbling catch. Whether or not Harbhajan's was a matchwinning catch ceases to be relevant; that it was innings-changing was certain.

Not as innings-changing, though, as his spell of 3 for 27 from 10 overs. Harbhajan had a wicket - of Marvan Atapattu (65 for 1) - in his very first over, and a wicket switches Harbhajan on more than it does most others. He quickly settled into an accurate, if slightly flattish, groove, and then came back for a loopier second spell which proved to be more decisive still. With 11 overs remaining, Sri Lanka should have been getting six an over, but Harbhajan gave them less than two, besides twirling his way to two more wickets. Supporting Harbhajan ably was Sehwag, who took care of the fifth bowler's quota of 10 overs for just 32 runs.

Holding Sri Lanka's middle sanely together was Kumar Sangakkara with a fine 54. It was an innings of such solidity that it was ironic that an ill-judged reverse sweep, off Harbhajan, (207 for 4) cost him his wicket. Yet, you could almost see a moment of madness coming from Sangakkara as his innings grew slower and slower with time.

The man who batted the best today, though, was neither Jayasuriya nor Sangakkara, but Atapattu, whose 34 off 48 balls at the top was both assured and beautiful. Javagal Srinath particularly was treated like a man jetlagged after flying in from England at 5am this morning. Which of course, he was.

Srinath's eight overs cost 55 runs, and he was the weakest link in the Indian bowling. Nothing could have been more frustrating for Anil Kumble than to sit out and watch Srinath wear the shirt bearing Kumble's name and attempting to bowl legbreaks off a long run.

It was also an innings of great catches and easy misses. Harbhajan's catch off Jayasuriya, Rahul Dravid's of de Silva's top-edged cut off Harbhajan, Ajit Agarkar's juggling effort at short midwicket to remove Atapattu, and Sachin Tendulkar's goalkeeper-dive caught-and-bowled of Mahela Jayardene were offset by three drops: two by Tendulkar and another by Mohammad Kaif.

Only the statistics will be recognized, but the rest does not matter anymore.

Rahul Bhattacharya is assistant editor of Wisden.com in India.

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