The Great Game Called Cricket...

Lunch India 131 for 0 (Sehwag 70*, Gambhir 59*) v Sri Lanka

Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir started sedately before shifting gears to launch India into a great position by lunch on the opening day of the second Test in Kanpur. Sri Lanka managed to keep things tight with the new ball but everything went pear shaped for them with the introduction of the spinners as the openers looted 73 runs from nine overs of spin.

It seemed Sehwag was waging a battle with himself in the initial period. Off the third ball he faced, he chased a wide delivery and edged it but was given a reprieve as Prasanna Jayawardene dived across and distracted Mahela Jayawardene who spilled the catch at first slip. He then tried to go hard at Angelo Mathews couple of times and was beaten. You felt that this was the make or break moment as either Sehwag was going to combust due to impatience or he will change tack and be more watchful. He chose the latter route and started to play defensively with the full face of the bat and as close to the body as possible. It has to be said, though, that the seamers did their best to tempt Sehwag into indiscretion. They kept the ball full and outside off, inviting the drives, but Sehwag resisted after the initial nervy period. That his first boundary came only in the 27th delivery he faced said much about his state of mind. Occasionally, Welegedera got the ball to nip back in and once, even had a plausible shout for lbw turned down, but couldn't break through.

Gambhir was the more assured of the two against the new ball. He was out in the last Test, playing away from the body against Welegedera, and took care to play as close to the body as possible. He did pick up quite a few runs in the third-man region but the slow pitch was always going to throw up that kind of a wagon wheel.

The presence of three spinners and just one frontline seamer was always going to pose problems and it did. It was the nervous duo of Rangana Herath and Ajantha Mendis who wilted under the assault of the openers. It was a fascinating phase as both batsmen had decided to go after the spinners from the word go and the two bowlers couldn't handle the heat. Gambhir lashed out at Herath in his first over, creaming him for three boundaries: He whipped through covers, cut to point and stepped out to loft to the straight boundary.

If Gambhir took Herath out of the attack with his aggression, Sehwag nearly did the same to Mendis. He tried to lash out against Mendis but mistimed the first few balls. There was a sense of edginess in the air but Mendis couldn't keep up his nerve. He floated a full toss, offered a long-hop and slid one down the legs and Sehwag disposed each one of them to the boundary. The attacking spirit was best seen in the last over before the lunch when Sehwag launched himself against Mendis and heaved an off break high over long-on.