There is always a sense of optimism in the dressing room when a team wins the first test in a three test series. And when that win comes in the form of an innings victory inside four days despite the loss of playing time for rain, it must mean that the second test should hold no terrors for the winners. But, test cricket is always not that kind of game and India are not that kind of opponents. We knew that India will come hard at us at Galle even though the record books favoured us: we have won most of our matches here and it is a venue where Murali usually wreaks havoc.

Even so, India would have gone back to the drawing boards-coaches, laptops and all-trying to nullify what Murali and Ajantha Mendis inflicted on them at the Sinhalese Sports Club and we were aware that a tougher test awaited us at Galle. And so far, that is what has happened and as I write at the end of the second days play, the game is very much evenly poised.

In spite of Mahela’s valiant effort, we conceded a thirty seven run lead in the first innings. Pic by Ranjith Perera

For India, it would have been a good toss to win, especially after their nightmarish batting performance in Colombo. Their openers, Virender Sehwag in particular, batted in limited over mode and that paid off-especially against the spinners. Sehwag’s innings was a brilliant one although he had his share of luck with a couple of grassed chances but that is only because fortune favours the brave. Despite Sehwag’s superb and daring batting display, I think we had a lot of positives to take home from our own performances.

Firstly, Sehwag scored more than two hundred runs in India’s three hundred plus score. That also meant that we had managed-for the third time in a row-to dismiss the others for just a few runs. In a line up that includes Tendulkar, Dravid and Ganguly eight batsmen failed to get in to double digits. Secondly, it also means that the Indians-with the exception of Sehwag possibly-are still groping and grappling with their plans against Ajantha Mendis. This is an encouraging sign for the youngster to build on for the future because the Indians are among the best players of spin in the world.

Personally, I was happy to chip in with the key wickets of Tendulkar and Ganguly after the break for rain on day one. At that point, the game could have gone either way and those wickets helped us to get ourselves back in to the contest. I have cut back on my pace and am relying more on my accuracy and variation to pick up my wickets now. This comes at a time when I am also trying to conserve my energies and play within my limits because I am keen to stay in the game for as long as I deserve to.

It is not that the showers altered the ground conditions drastically but when we went in for the rain break we did review our bowling strategies and we told ourselves we should try and stop the flow of easy runs by bowling on a tight line and length. It may also be that the Indians relaxed during the break and dropped their guard for a moment.

Whatever it was, the wickets came in a flurry, with their last six wickets falling for 51 runs. Much of that credit must go to Murali and Mendis. Mendis was not rattled by Sehwag’s counter attack and kept his cool to bag six scalps and Murali was unlucky to end with only two wickets, considering the manner in which he bowled.

When it was our turn to bat, Sanga and Warnapura batted really well, going about the business of chipping away at India’s score. We were hoping for a substantial first innings total given the ease with which they were bating, but it was not to be.Warnapura’s dismissal sparked a collapse of sorts-from the comfort of 137 for 1 to 192 for five. That was a little unfortunate, but I must say we are still looking for a sizeable first innings lead of about a hundred to a hundred and fifty runs because it would come in handy in the second innings.

The plan would be for the lower order batsmen to bat around Mahela, and give support to the skipper to overhaul the Indians’ score. But we would of course play our natural game because to walk out to the middle in a defensive frame of mind would simply not be good enough for this contest. I would not expect the wicket to do much in this game-it does look quite similar to the track at the SSC: mostly flat, even if it is a little bouncier than the strip in Colombo was.

Nevertheless, batting a fourth innings on the last day might prove a little difficult which is why our focus is now only on the first innings. Thinking of targets that we would be chasing in the fourth innings is not the way to set about achieving a test win and that is why we will be going in to the third day in an attacking frame of mind.

An exciting contest is on the cards and if we can get to a good lead in the first innings, I believe we can win the game from there. A lot more remains to be done but we do believe that we have a better than even chance of adding another victory to our tally-and sealing the series here at Galle itself.