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Sanity was restored to cricket at Nagpur as the scores returned to the usual 300-bracket from the extraordinary 400 plus totals achieved at Rajkot. But, there was no shortage of drama here too as the match once again went down to the wire. Yet again, it seemed Sri Lanka would throw it away after being in a commanding position for most part of the chase. However, an unimpressive bowling effort and some slack fielding in the closing stages combined to let Lanka off the hook in the end. For the visitors, Angelo Mathews (37*) played a brisk cameo, batting with a runner towards the fag end of the innings, to ensure the Lankans did not repeat the mistakes made in the first game.

Earlier, it was Tillakaratne Dilshan who once again set up the chase of 302 perfectly for Sri Lanka, notching up his second blistering ton in as many games and fifth overall. Like in the first game, he got excellent support from his opening partner Upul Tharanga. The duo batted as if they were continuing from where they finished at Rajkot. All the bowlers were taken to the cleaners from the very start of the innings. Zaheer Khan was pulverized, as were Ashish Nehra and Praveen Kumar. Most of Dilshan’s big strokes came hitting on the up, either straight down on the ground or over mid-on and mid-off. It was a typical Dilshan effort which saw the Lankans race past fifty in the 7th over. At the other end, Tharanga played his part well, finding the boundaries every time width was offered to him as the duo registered their second century partnership in consecutive matches.

With the Lankan openers going great guns, MS Dhoni had to turn to Harbhajan Singh as early as the 8th over. But Dilshan took a liking to him as well, playing mind games with him. At times he trudged down the ground to the spinner and on other occasions, he stayed back and nudged or cut the bowler for boundaries behind square. Eventually though, it was Harbhajan who got the breakthrough, beating Tharanga in the flight and having him caught in the slips. Dilshan then helped India’s cause by running out his captain Kumar Sangakkara for 21.

The match continued to ebb and flow from there on with Nehra cleaning up Dilshan for a magnificent 123 with a perfectly-directed yorker. At the other end, Zaheer delivered three big strikes in his final spell to keep India in the hunt. Ironically, his erroneous fielding lapses in the penultimate over settled the matter in favour of the visitors.

Batting first after winning the toss, India rode on a lucky century from skipper Dhoni – he was let off on more than one occasion – and half-centuries from Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina to post 301 for 7. This after Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir fell cheaply and Sachin Tendulkar failed to convert a good start. The recall of Ajantha Mendis benefited Lanka while debutant spinner Suraj Randiv was more than impressive, picking up three crucial scalps. India still ended up with a fighting total. But the kind of form Dilshan is in, no total can be termed match-winning. He missed out on the man of the match award by a whisker at Rajkot, but at Nagpur there were no two choices.

A sparkling century by Tillakaratne Dilshan, preceded by some excellent early morning bowling by Sri Lanka ensured the visitors ended day two of the Ahmedabad Test with honours even. India did strike back in the last session when Zaheer Khan dismissed Dilshan and skipper Kumar Sangakkara in quick succession. However, former captain Mahela Jayawardene and Thilan Samaraweera put their heads down and added an unbeaten 85 for the fourth wicket to take Sri Lanka to 275/3 at the close of play. Earlier in the day, India were bowled out for 426, losing their last four wickets having added only 41 to their overnight score. Dravid fell without adding to his overnight score of 177.

If day one belonged to Dravid, day two was undoubtedly Dilshan’s. His ton made sure that Lanka capitalised on the advantage they had gained after bowling India out early on the second day. Dilshan’s effort was all the more commendable since runs flowed from his bat even when MS Dhoni did his best to negate the Lankan opener’s favourite scoring areas. The Indian skipper blocked, the point, fine leg and square leg area early on, but Dilshan did not fall for the ploy. Instead, he was satisfied to place the ball in the gaps and turn over the strike whilst waiting for the loose deliveries.

Dilshan’s opening partner Tharanga Paranavitana also gave him good support at the other end. In fact, he did the bulk of the scoring early on. In a sense, he was lucky to have got more of the widish deliveries as both Zaheer and Ishant Sharma concentrated on dislodging Dilshan, whom they considered the more dangerous of the two. Nevertheless, Paranavitana did his job, adding 74 for the first wicket before falling prey to Ishant for 35. With a solid foundation laid, Dilshan and Sangakkara carried on the good work.

Except for a few moments at the start, Dilshan was in full flow. When the boundaries weren’t coming, he was uncharacteristically patient, running quick singles and twos. And when the width was offered, he did not back off. Having seen off the pacers without much trouble, he was at ease against the spinners, stroking both Harbhajan Singh and Amit Mishra for boundaries early on in their spell. At the other end, Sangakkara was more than happy to play second fiddle as Dilshan approached his 10th Test century and Sri Lanka went into tea well-placed at 155/1.

Dilshan reached his ton post tea. But just when the partnership between him and Sangakkara seemed to be assuming extremely dangerous proportions, Zaheer showed his true class. Going for a hook, Dilshan was cramped for room and ended up skying a catch to Dravid for 112. Five runs later, Sangakkara too perished in a similar fashion, beaten for pace by Zaheer. Post the two dismissals, Singh and Mishra managed to gain a degree of control over the innings. But though both were effective, they failed to dislodge either Jayawardene or Samaraweera, who were prepared to grind it out as Sri Lanka ended the day having gained a slight upper hand.