Sehwag-Gambhir's centuries help India to score 417/2

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India's emphatic opening with 417 runs in a single day has set them up perfectly to put Sri Lanka under intense pressure over the next four days. Virender Sehwag scored 131 runs just in 122 deliveries with 18 boundaries two sixes.

CJ: Sim

Wed, Nov 25, 2009 11:16:28 IST

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IT WAS a run flooded at the Green Park Stadium in Kanpur. India scored 417 runs in a single day. It is also a record score for Indians in a single day.

Virender Sehwag scored 131 runs just in 122 deliveries with 18 boundaries two sixes. Before losing his wicket to Muralidharan, Sehwag had a record partnership with Gautam Gambhir of 233 runs just in 41.2 overs. Man in form Gautam Gambhir, notched up his seventh hundred in nine tests and his fourth in a raw. Gambhir scored 167 runs. At the end of the day, Rahul Dravid was on crease with 81 and Sachin Tendulkar with 20 runs. Sachin needs 103 more runs to become first player to score 13000 test runs.

The most telling statistic was the spinners' figures. Sri Lanka had managed to keep the scoring rate down with the new ball but things went pear-shaped for them after the spinners were introduced. They weren't allowed to settle in by the openers, who lashed out at them with a calculated assault that was breathtaking.

What facilitated India's dominance was the clarity of thought in the approach by all the batsmen. Gambhir paced himself superbly, playing out the new ball and then indulging himself against the spinners on a first-day track. There were a couple of occasions when he hung his bat out to the new ball and was seen immediately reprimanding himself. Gambhir had different approaches to the spinners

Dravid was decisive in everything he did right from the start. When he defended he showed the full face of bat and deployed soft hands and when he chose to attack, he either stretched well forward to drive or rocked right back to punch through the off side.

However, the most interesting of the three knocks was Sehwag's. He chased the third ball he faced - a wide delivery from Welegedara and edged it but was dropped when Prasanna Jayawardene dived across and distracted Mahila Jayawardene at first slip. His first boundary came only off his 27th delivery.

The presence of three spinners and just one frontline seamer was always going to pose problems for Sri Lanka after they lost the toss. India's emphatic opening act has set them up perfectly to put Sri Lanka under intense pressure over the next four days.

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