Sri Lanka were all out for 247, three runs short of my predicted maximum. For a while, Jayawardene and Dilshan offered resistance till Dilshan tried to push a Kumble flipper square on the off side. Predictably, the ball kept low and he was castled. Not a good stroke in the circumstances. That made it 199 for 7 and the rest was inevitable with India winning by 188 runs.

I think the Indian bowlers bowled much better as a group in the second inings. Kumble got 4, Harbhajan 3, Agarkar 2 and Pathan 1. Kumble was rightly named man of the match. The Indian cricket team put in a professional performance in this test, taking it’s chances after a batting collapse on the second morning. For Sri Lanka, it was a case of missed opportunities. Their over-dependance on Murali was exposed. Apart from Gambhir, all the Indian players had a good test and several positives emerge from this match.

Player Ratings :

1. Gautam Gambhir - 1.

2. Rahul Dravid - 7.

3. VVS Laxman - 7.

4. Sachin Tendulkar - 8.

5. Saurav Ganguly- 6.5.

6. Yuvraj Singh - 7.5.

7. M S Dhoni - 7.

8. Irfan Pathan - 9

9. Ajit Agarkar - 7.

10.Anil Kumble - 9.5 - STARMAN

11.Harbhajan Singh - 7.

The big news at the end of the test is that Saurav Ganguly has been dropped from the squad and Wasim Jaffer comes in. As expected, this has surprised a lot of people. Predictably, the banana boys are out in Kolkata (See Banana boys - archives). Effigies of Kiran More and Greg Chappell are being slapped with shoes by passers by and the chest beating has begun again. Disgracefully, adults are handing children shoes to slap the effigies with. Fine example you set, boys! Never a dull moment, is there?

I will write about this tonight.