Wizard Murali in 700th heaven

Mesmerised by the spin of Muttiah Muralitharan and submerged by a deluge of runs from Sangakkara and Jayawardena, Bangladesh succumbed meekly by an innings and 193 runs in the third test match at the Asgiriya International Stadium yesterday. With this effort Sri Lanka completed her 50th Test match victory while Murali joined his spin counterpart Shane Warne in the 700 Test wicket slot – an achievement par excellence. Muralitharan finished the game with figures of 12 for 82.

After the game a smiling Muralitharan commenting on his feat said ''I didn't believe that I could get 700th wicket here, but I am very happy to complete that at my home ground,''. Then commenting on his chances of beating Shane Warne’s record of 708 wickets in Australia he said '' I think it is possible for me to achieve it there, but it all depends on how I bowl on the Australian wickets, Moreover we have never won a Test match in Australia, I wish I could be a part of the Sri Lankan team who does it and I want to do it before I retire.”

Finally when asked about the hostile Australian crowds the Lankan spinwizard said ''I am not worried about what people would say. People can say whatever they want, but we are going to win there and our focus will be on that.''

When play resumed on the 4th morning, openers Javed Omar and Nafees batted with spunk and determination to post 47 in their opening stand. Omar was struck on the pads many times by Malinga but survived them all. Finally, he played away from his body and gave a regulation catch to Sangakkara at slip.

Nafees played couple of splendid hooks and some neat drives through the covers. He was unbeaten on 57 at lunch but didn’t survive too long thereafter. Pushing forward to Murali he edged to Jayawardena at slip. He faced 115 balls in all.

Habibul Bashar continued his poor run when he stepped out to Murali and was deceived in the flight.

Ashraful promoted both himself and the tiny stumper Rahim in an effort to meet fire with fire. But the move did not yield dividends. The skipper was trapped on the back foot by a straight one. It was a decision he didn’t seem to agree with. The door was ajar now and the rest of the batting succumbed without as much as a whimper.

Rahim chased a widish delivery and drove to point, while Saleh was expertly picked up by skipper Jayewardene. The tail failed to wag as they fell to some wild swishes.

The bowlers were rotated by Jayawardena and they kept up the pressure at one end while Murali made merry at the other.

Bangladesh showed that their cricket is on the down-slide. They managed to exert some degree of control through the efforts of Rasel, Mortaza and Shahadat. But the spin bowling, including that of Rafique, was of club standard.

The batting was generally below par. Ashraful tried hard but he was facing fearful odds with not a lot of support at the other end. The visitors had one hundred and three fifties in six innings. The Sri Lankans proved conclusively that they are one of the best teams in the world, especially when playing at home. The new players seem to be fitting in well and though Murali, Sangakkara and Jayawardena kept hogging the limelight, it was a fine team effort.

With this win, the Sri Lankans completed a clean sweep of the Laqshaya Series.