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India completed the formality of their 100th test win at Kanpur today taking the final six wickets to wrap up the Sri Lankan innings before tea on the 4th day despite a fighting unbeaten half century from Lankan run machine Thilan Samaraweera.

With India picking up 13 wickets yesterday, the result of the second test was in no doubt whatsoever, but credit to the visitors they came out to bat with the intention of taking the game to India and scored some quick runs in the process. Dhoni decided to use his new ball pair to open proceedings today, and the first 9 balls of the day saw 22 runs scored with Angelo Mathews hitting Zaheer Khan for three consecutive boundaries.

The wily veteran however outsmarted the young allrounder tempting him to go for a hook to a ball that was too wide outside off stump and slanting further away. Mathews top edged it and Rahul Dravid did well in the gully diving to hang on to a smart catch.

Samaraweera and Prasanna Jayawardene, who has had an impressive series with the bat, kept the scoreboard ticking over nicely putting on 41 runs for the 6th wicket. The pair looked completely at ease on what was still an excellent pitch for batting and appeared to be digging in for the long haul when Harbhajan Singh produced the ball of the match. Bowling round the wicket to Jayawardene, Bhajji got the ball to pitch outside off and slip through bat and pad and knock over the stumps.

Herath and Murali came out swinging, the left-arm spinner smashing 13 from 10 balls, falling leg before to Harbhajan, and Murali hitting 29 from 11 including two 6s and three 4s before Pragyan Ojha got him swinging across the line and missing a slow one. Sri Lankan went into lunch 8 wickets down, losing 4 in the morning session, but had done well to add 149 runs.

Ajantha Mendis showed a lot more respect for his partner, the legitimate batsmen Thilan Samaraweera, than his predecessors had, and hung around for as long as he could with Samaraweera inching towards a hundred. Mendis frustrated the Indian fielding unit and the large crowd who by then were hungry for a home win for nearly an hour and a half before the man with the golden left arm Yuvraj Singh picked up his old nemesis for 27.

Debutant Pragyan Ojha was given the privilege of performing the last rites on the Sri Lankan innings, and he promptly removed Chanaka Welegedara to earn a part in India's historic win.

The teams now head over to Mumbai for the final test in the series, where Sri Lanka will undoubtedly be keen to bounce back. The wicket at the Brabourne Stadium is likely to be a little more bowler friendly that the tracks we have witnessed so far, and the toss is likely to be a very crucial one in the context of that game. India will go into that match without Gautam Gambhir, their highest ranked player in the ICC standings, and easily their best batsman over the last 12 months. Gambhir will be returning home for his sister's wedding, giving Murali Vijay another cameo appearance in his fledgling test career.

Mini Scorecard:
India 1st innings 642 all out (154overs, 4.16rpo)
Gambhir 167(215)               Herath 5-121
Sehwag 131(122)                Mendis 2-162
Dravid 144(226)                  Muralitharan 2-175

Sri Lanka 1st innings 229 all out (84 overs, 2.72rpo)
Jayawardene 47                 Sreesanth 5-75
Sangakkara 44                    Ojha 2-37

Sri Lanka 2nd innings 269 all out (65.3 overs, 4.1rpo)
Samaraweera 78*                 Harbhajan 3-98
Muralitharan 29                    Ojha 2-36

India win by an innings and 144 runs

Photograph Copyright: Jason Naylor

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