World bowling record-holder Muttiah Muralitharan retired with 800 Test wickets on Thursday as Sri Lanka thumped India by 10 wickets in their first Test. The off-spinner had last man Pragyan Ojha caught at slip by Mahela Jayawardene to reach the landmark and terminate India's second innings in the post-lunch session of the final day's play.
India, who were made to follow on 244 runs behind, were bowled out for 338 in their second knock, leaving Sri Lanka a modest target of 95 runs in the opening match of the three-Test series. The hosts cruised home without losing a wicket as Tharanga Paranavitana followed his first-innings century with 23 not out and Tillakaratne Dilshan smashed an unbeaten 68 off 47 balls.
Dilshan signalled the emphatic win by lofting off-spinner Harbhajan Singh over long-on for six. "We could not have scripted it better," said Sri Lanka's captain Kumar Sangakkara. "We won the match and Murali got his 800. There has not been a better bowler in the game than him.
Muralitharan, 38, who has taken more Test (800) and one-day (515) wickets than any bowler in history, remains open to playing limited-overs games. He claimed 5-63 in the first innings of his final appearance and 3-128 in the second to set up the hosts' victory at the Galle International Stadium. Some 15,000 fans, including Muralitharan's parents, his Indian wife, Madhimalar, and four-year old son, Naren, faced anxious moments before the landmark was achieved.
The spinner needed 23 overs to move from 799 to 800 wickets following a doughty rearguard action by India, whose last three wickets added 141 runs after being 197-7 at one stage. Venkatsai Laxman led the fightback with a defiant 69, adding 49 for the eighth wicket with debutant Abhimanyu Mithun and 68 for the ninth with Ishant Sharma. "This is obviously not an ideal start to the series," said Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni. "But we did miss our senior seamers like the injured Zaheer Khan.
Muralitharan, who dismissed Yuvraj Singh off the last ball on Wednesday, trapped Harbhajan Singh leg-before in the day's fourth over to move to 799 wickets. Mithun helped himself to five boundaries in his 25 when he became Malinga's fifth victim in the innings to make India 246-8.
"There is plenty to look forward to for the rest of the series," said Dhoni. "Viru (Sehwag) batted very well and Mithun was lively in his first match. We will fight hard to come back." India, the top-ranked Test side, have not won a Test series in Sri Lanka since 1993. The action now shifts to Colombo where the second Test starts at the Sinhalese sports club on July 26, followed by the third at the P. Sara Oval on August 3.
Sri Lanka 1st innings: 520-8 declared (T. Paranavitana 111, K. Sangakkara 103, R. Herath 80 not out, L. Malinga 64, A. Mithun 4-105, I. Sharma 3-145)
India 1st innings 276 (V. Sehwag 109, Y. Singh 52, M. Muralitharan 5-63, L. Malinga 2-55)
India 2nd innings (overnight 181-5):
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G. Gambhir c P. Jayawardene
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b Malinga 0
V. Sehwag c M. Jayawardene b Welegedara 31
R. Dravid c Sangakkara b Malinga 44
S. Tendulkar lbw b Malinga 84
V. Laxman run out 69
Y. Singh c M. Jayawardene b Muralitharan 5
M. Dhoni b Malinga 4
H. Singh lbw b Muralitharan 8
A. Mithun lbw b Malinga 25
I. Sharma not out 31
P. Ojha c M. Jayawardene b Muralitharan 13
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Extras: (b5, lb9, w2, nb8) 24
Total: (all out, 115.4 overs) 338
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Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Gambhir), 2-42 (Sehwag), 3-161 (Dravid), 4-172 (Tendulkar), 5-181 (Yuvraj), 6-186 (Dhoni), 7-197 (Harbhajan), 8-246 (Mithun), 9-314 (Laxman), 10-338 (Ojha).
Bowling: Malinga 17-2-50-5 (nb2), Welegedara 10-2-43-1 (nb3, w1), Herath 27-3-60-0 (nb2), Mathews 7-3-13-0 (w1), Muralitharan 44.4-7-128-3 (nb1), Dilshan 10-1-30-0.
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Sri Lanka 2nd innings:
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T. Paranavitana not out 23
T. Dilshan not out 68
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Extras: (w1, nb4) 5
Total: (for no loss, 14.1 overs) 96
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