Gautam Gambhir made 114 and Sachin Tendulkar hit an unbeaten 100 as India batted out the final day to draw the first cricket Test against Sri Lanka here on Friday. India easily wiped out a huge first innings deficit of 334 runs as they scored 412-4 in their second knock before the high-scoring Test was called off with six overs remaining on the fifth day.
Tendulkar, 36, set a new benchmark of 30,000 international runs at the start of his third decade in the game to frustrate Sri Lanka's bid to win their first Test on Indian soil. Tendulkar, the world's leading Test and one-day scorer, reached the landmark when he turned Chanaka Welegedara to square-leg for a single to reach 35 soon after lunch.
He ended the match with a Test career tally of 12,877 runs, building on the 17,188 one-day and 10 Twenty20 runs he has scored since making his debut on November 15, 1989 against Pakistan in Karachi. Tendulkar, who smashed his 43rd Test century, put on 66 for the fourth wicket with Gambhir and 137 for the unbroken fifth with Venkatsai Laxman, who returned unbeaten on 51.
Sri Lanka's bowlers struggled to cope with the batsman-friendly pitch on which 1,598 runs were scored at the cost of just 21 wickets over the five days. World bowling record holder Muttiah Muralitharan failed to take a wicket in 38 overs which cost 124 runs and left-arm spinner Rangana Herath went for 2-97 in 40 overs.
"It was a bit disappointing to draw the game," said Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara. "It was a pretty flat track that did not have much for the bowlers. "We were thinking positive on the final day and needed something to go our way but that did not happen. "We did not gain any psychological edge. It's pretty Even Stevens going into the next match but I am happy the way the team played as a unit.
Gambhir's seventh Test century was the third in successive matches this year after making 137 in Napier and 167 in Wellington on India's tour of New Zealand in March-April. The Delhi opener kept vigil for six hours and 37 minutes when he attempted to loft Herath soon after lunch and holed out to mid-off. Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said he was delighted by the way his team fought back after conceding a huge lead.
"I am really proud of this achievement," he said. "We had to handle our nerves and that is what we showed. It was not easy to bowl on this wicket but our bowlers bowled their hearts out. The second Test starts in Kanpur on Tuesday, followed by the third at the Brabourne stadium in Mumbai from December 2.
SCOREBOARD India 1st innings: 426 (R. Dravid 177, Y. Singh 68, M. Dhoni 110, C. Welegedara 4-87, M. Muralitharan 3-97)
Sri Lanka 1st innings: 760-7 decl (T. Dilshan 112, M. Jayawardene 275, P. Jayawardene 154 not out, Zaheer Khan 2-109, I. Sharma 2-135)
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INDIA 2ND INNINGS (OVERNIGHT 190-2):
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G. Gambhir c Prasad b Herath 114
V. Sehwag c Mathews b Herath 51
R. Dravid lbw b Welegedara 38
A. Mishra c Dilshan b Mathews 24
S. Tendulkar not out 100
V. Laxman not out 51
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Extras: (b12, lb9, nb11, w2) 34
Total: (for 4 wkts, 129 overs) 412
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Did not bat: Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma.
Fall of wickets: 1-81 (Sehwag), 2-169 (Dravid), 3-209 (Mishra), 4-275 (Gambhir).
Bowling: Welegedara 21-1-76-1 (nb2, w2), Prasad 13-0-56-0 (nb3), Herath 40-6-97-2, Muralitharan 38-6-124-0 (nb6), Mathews 15-6-29-1, Dilshan 1-0-2-0, Paranavitana 1-0-7-0.
Match drawn
Toss: India
Umpires: Tony Hill (NZL) and Daryl Harper (AUS)
TV umpire: Amish Saheba (IND)
Match referee: Jeff Crowe (NZL)
Second Test in Kanpur from November 24-28; Third Test in Mumbai from December 2-6.
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