Tame end to the first test - Final Day at Motera 2009

India had made their plans to survive the final day by playing watchful cricket - this was evident in the way Gautam Gambhir set out to bat. Amit Mishra gave him good company till a superb catch by Dilshan sent him back. Sachin Tendulkar came out and played the ball on its merit. He crossed 30,000 international runs during his knock - 6000 more than his next competitor (Ricky Ponting) and scored his 43rd test century.

All the way, Gambhir played with a fluency that was hard to ignore - he has always raised his hand when such efforts are required by the team. Especially the last two years has been his age of coming (four of his centuries, including his last three, have come in the second innings, two of them in match-saving scenarios). He did stay after lunch before getting out to Herath. VVS Laxman also decided to score a half-century in the 2nd innings to show that there was not anything dangerous in the pitch.

The Srilankan bowlers toiled just like the Indians did in the first innings but got their first three wickets by a combination of poor shot-selection, marginal umpiring decision and a wonderful piece of catching - nothing to do with the magic of the great man, Murali. The fourth fell again to a poor shot-selection by a batsman reaching a bigger milestone (hundred).

The match promised much but failed to deliver. Overall, the bowlers toiled hard but could not deliver much. The performance of the Srilankan bowlers in the second innings might have saved Harbhajan's place in the playing eleven of the next match. The only entertainment was provided in the first session on the first day when the 4 Indian wickets fell for 32 - after that, the remaining play could see only 17 wickets fall - that is not sufficient to produce a result.

Tweaked the Sessions-Dashboard to indicate the situation more properly - let me know what you think about the dashboard - whether it gives a good indication of the situation in the match.