India wins a crucial toss and starts off well after a poor performance in the 1st test. At 95-0, sehwag and gambhir looking to attack Mendis augers well for india. I hope they can bat the srilankans out of this test. Sehwag gets to a blazing 50 as well. Guess the loss was a much needed medicine.

what a delight to see india at lunch, 151/0 in 29 overs, sehwag with a sparkling 91 off 82 balls and gambhir playing the perfect foil with a 50 from 92 balls. couldn't have asked for a better start, srilanka have been unfortunate with a dropped chances and edges going a little wide off fielders, nonetheless just the kind of luck needed by the indians.

I think Sehwag's amazing. Completely unorthodox, but he's got a very good record against the strongest pace attacks, and now he's proved that he can play spin too, against Murali and Mendis on their own turf. Surely he must now rank as India's second-greatest opener ever, after Gavaskar.

As for Gambhir, I can't believe that he missed out to Jaffer, Bangar etc. for so long. He's a classy bat, and I sincerely hope that he can reach his potential in the Test arena.

That's a huge lunch time score off only 29 overs. Are the Sri Lankans bowling poorly, or is this really all Indian magic?

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I'd say a combination of both OF. I think the srilankans(including murali) have bowled a few short deliveries which the indians capitalized on. the running between the wickets has been exemplary. i think the indians had problems picking mendis last match and now they're picking him early and dancing down the pitch.really doesn't seem to have answers when he is being attacked.

News Edit: Rain plays spoilsport again. I would have never imagined it would rain after seeing bright sunshine and blue skies in the first session. Wow weather must change by the minute out there!!!

I think you might be right Aurey, not many things opposition captains can do when he is on song.

I think Gambhir plays spin really well for an opener, a couple of drives against Murali have been a treat to watch. the wicket also has uneven bounce and is walking down the pitch at times forcing bowlers to bowl short. I think he is most effective when he has sehwag on the other side, its been proven in the IPL and in the recent ODI matches. with sehwag on song, gambhir has lesser pressure to score quickly, and the understanding between them is real good as they have played a lot of cricket together in the domestic circuit for delhi.

Maybe they conned the Indian openers into believing it's a ODI...

Great comeback (so far) from India though.

I can believe that... but I don't doubt for one moment that Sehwag is also hitting through the line at half-decent deliveries.

I begrudge him every run he ever makes and truly despair when I see he's found a pitch on which he can get away with his Gilchrist-like assaults

I'm also left wondering what the groundsman was thinking in preparing a pitch on which playing through the line is an option. All he needed to do was ensure there was a little uneven bounce from the very start and that it was a little two paced - pretty basic stuff (and to my mind essential to cricket on slower wickets).

What do you mean by "hitting through the line?" I understand that as following through with the stroke, so that balls outside off are hit through the covers, etc. I was always taught that that was proper technique. It'd be more of a concern in he was hitting across the line, but just following through with proper cricketing strokes (especially if he can keep them down- as he usually does) doesn't strike me as that much of a problem.

You have a point regarding the easier nature of the pitches, but on the flipside Sehwag's dominated the best attacks as few others have. Would you agree that the three sides with consistently the best pace attacks since he debuted are Australia, Pakistan and South Africa? Because Sehwag's averaged 53, 91 and 51 against them respectively. Also, when he gets started he just goes on and on- I think his last five centuries have been over 150. Regarding his consistency, his 50-to-innings ratio is better than that of both Gary Kirsten and Michael Slater. So if he does benefit a little from easier pitches, his domination of good pace attacks (and now good spinners) plus his prolific century-scoring suggests to me that he's not reliant on them.

Actually the very first ball of the match kept really low. There is quite a bit of uneven bounce on this wicket. The pitch itself is a story of two halves(believe it or not!!!), one half is really dry and has uneven bounce and the other half was moist with the ball doing a bit in the beginning and eased out later on. Sehwag got through the initial phase where the ball was doing a bit, he started picking the spinners(variations of mendis) early and came down the track and belted them around also playing some glorious drives as well. I dont know if it was a deliberate move but Gambhir seemed to bat quite a bit on the uneven half allowing Sehwag to go berserk from the other end.

Vaas and Kulasekara the medium pacers lack sting and were bowling at less than 130 kmph where uneven bounce isn't that much of a problem and Sehwag cashed in when those bouncers hurled at him kept low asking to be pulled away.But he did manage to get hit by 1 ball which took off and smashed into his gloves, but it was Vaas so no real damage done there.

It is an open secret that Sehwag is most susceptible to swing and is at his best on a pitch where the ball comes on and can hit across the line, but is a decent player on slow wickets with uneven bounce and does ok on wearing pitches too. I dont think any credit can be taken away from the way he played today, thats his style and his test record will tell you a story which you might not be pleased to hear Rachael.