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ESPNcricinfo presents the plays of the first day of the first Test between South Africa and India at SuperSport Park

Sidharth Monga at SuperSport Park16-Dec-2010The chant
At first it sounded like football fans had sneaked into the most cricketing of the venues. On closer observation, a smart innovation could be noticed. They were not singing “Ole Ole” but “Morneee / Morne Morne Morne / Moorneee”. And Morne Morkel didn’t disappoint. The pitch was to his liking, the atmosphere too, and he gave Indians some chin-, shoulder-, and chest-music. Not to mention the two wickets he picked up in that first spell. And at the end of each of those overs, he was welcomed to his fine-leg position by a happy crowd.The no-show
There was so much anticipation, so much build-up (some might consider this space guilty of adding to the hype) to the contest between the two most exciting cricketers in the world: Dale Steyn and Virender Sehwag. Sadly it lasted only three balls. Two of them swung away from wide outside off, Sehwag left them alone. You could feel the itch. The over ended. When Sehwag faced Steyn next, he couldn’t hold himself back, swung at one and got a thick outside edge, so thick it carried to third man. Steyn 1, Sehwag 0.The celebration
After he got Rahul Dravid with a peach, Morkel was ecstatic and slipped on the pitch, next to the stumps, but he recovered soon and started his celebration while he was still on the ground. His team-mates surrounded him soon. They knew they were not the ones who were down.The modern-captaincy moment
In the 18th over, when Sachin Tendulkar pulled Lonwabo Tsotsobe for a second boundary in two overs, Graeme Smith’s response was typical of modern captains. Out went the square leg to deep midwicket, with the score 40 for 3 and the bowling side obviously on top on a spicy pitch.The real heroes
India will not like Hilbert Smit, the chief groundsman at SuperSport Park, and his team for making play possible, but they were the real champions today. Those coming from Johannesburg drove through high water, and the ones who reached the ground early wondered if there would be play even on the second day. It had rained continuously very much throughout the night. The moment it stopped coming down, though, they and their superb drainage system got into action. The puddles of water disappeared in minutes, and they made possible two short, exhilarating sessions of play. Smith’s gratitude at the toss was well earned by the groundstaff.

A panic in the opening game, an over that rolled back the years, some poor lip-syncing and more in a review of the action from the first week of the IPL

Sriram Veera15-Apr-2011The knock of the week
Paul Valthaty dragged himself out of anonymity with an astonishing innings against MS Dhoni’s men. Who told him he could play a knock like that? He was a nobody; he had played one domestic game before and had single-digit scores in his previous IPL outings. Everything changed that night. Now the onus is on him to show that he is not a one-game wonder.Panic attack of the week
It came in the very first game to torpedo Kolkata Knight Riders’ chase against Chennai Super Kings. With 61 needed from 44 balls and nine wickets in hand, Jacques Kallis, on 49, nudged Suraj Randiv to the on side for a risky run. Yusuf Pathan ran but MS Dhoni hared after it, picked up the ball, swivelled and fired a direct hit to catch Yusuf short. With 42 runs needed from 29 balls, Kallis paddled a full toss from Ashwin straight to the short fine-leg fielder and then Gautam Gambhir ran himself out. Manoj Tiwary counterattacked and Kolkata reduced the target to nine required off eight balls but Tim Southee bowled three unhittable yorkers in the final over to sneak a last-ball win.The unidentified flying object of the week
Where is that damned blimp? Throughout the last IPL it was shoved down our throats by the commentators as the world’s eighth wonder. The camera would zoom in on a hot-air balloon and the commentators would try to tell us how it could save the world. What a pity.Shane Warne rolled his arm over and rolled back the years•AFPThe controversial decision of the week
In Kolkata’s chase against Rajasthan, Manvinder Bisla was desperately haring down the track to beat the throw from mid-off but was fighting a lost cause. Rajasthan’s wicketkeeper Amit Paunikar broke the stumps but the ball seemed to pop out of his gloves before he could do that. Television replays too seemed to confirm the pop out but the third umpire thought otherwise. The nostalgic over of the week
It came from Shane Warne in his second match. He ripped a legbreak that turned sharply from the leg stump line and, for some reason, Unmukt Chand decided to cut. The ball flew to the left of first slip, where Rahul Dravid pouched it. Two balls later, Naman Ojha decided he had to take on his former captain. He rushed down the track but was done in, first by the dip and then by the turn. Warne pumped his fists and roared. Nostalgia floated in the air.The juggling act of the week
Jesse Ryder smashed a delivery back at Vinay Kumar, whose brilliant reflexes took over. The ball bounced off his arm on to his chest before he began the juggle. He tapped the ball from one hand to the other, almost teasing Ryder and probably his own captain Mahela Jayawardene, before he ended the suspense by holding on.The imposter of the week – I
This IPL week, Vinay Kumar decided to be Lasith Malinga. Bowling against Sachin Tendulkar, he suddenly dropped his right arm lower on his delivery stride, mirroring Malinga’s release, and released a slinger. More impressively, the ball was on target too, full and straight, and Tendulkar showed it respect by defending.The imposter of the week – II
On the same day, Tendulkar did a Dhoni during his first Twenty20 hundred. Thisara Perera hurled a full delivery outside off and Tendulkar worked the bottom-hand, lifted his front leg and played what has come to be known as Dhoni’s helicopter shot. The ball went screaming over long-on. There was just one difference: Tendulkar’s helicopter shot had more style than the original.The poor lip sync and a riveting Tamil song
“, (Chennai, all well?)” lip-synced Shahrukh Khan, wearing shades, and in Tamil, during the opening ceremony in Chennai. So far so good. However, the voice in the background wasn’t even Shah Rukh’s. It was followed by a dance to “”, a popular Tamil song whose lyrics were best captured by Nitin Sundar’s translation on ESPNcricinfo commentary: “Put like that, put put put, put like that with your eye. Put like this, put, put, put, put like this in the back.”

A compilation of stats from the four seasons of the Indian Premier League

Madhusudhan Ramakrishnan25-Apr-2011*All stats updated till the end of the 28th match of IPL 2011Shaun Marsh: highest average in wins among players with 500 or more runs in wins•AFP1.25 – The win-loss ratio of teams winning the toss. This is second only to the win-loss ratio of 1.43 in IPL 2009. IPL 2008 was not so lucky for teams winning the toss. They won 28 and lost 30 games (W/L ratio 0.93). The overall W/L ratio for teams winning the toss across all seasons is 1.15.2 – Paul Valthaty and Yuvraj Singh are the only players to achieve the feat of making a fifty-plus score and picking up four or more wickets in the same match. Both instances came in this edition of the IPL. Valthaty scored 75 and picked up 4 for 29 against Deccan while Yuvraj scored an unbeaten 66 and picked up 4 for 29 against Delhi.2.25 – Lasith Malinga’s economy rate during his spell of 3 for 9 is the best for any bowler in a completed spell in this IPL. Overall, the best economy rate is 1.50, for Fidel Edwards (Deccan) against Kolkata in 2009 and Ashish Nehra (Delhi) against Punjab in 2009.4 – Number of maidens Irfan Pathan has bowled across all seasons of the IPL, the most by any bowler. Manpreet Gony, Praveen Kumar, Malinga and Albie Morkel are next, with three each.6 – The number of ducks made by Shane Warne in IPL, the most by any player. He is followed by Piyush Chawla, Jacques Kallis and Pragyan Ojha, who have five ducks each.8.71 – The scoring rate at Mohali, the highest among grounds that have hosted a minimum of ten matches. Hyderabad is next, with a run-rate of 8.50. Eden Gardens has the lowest scoring rate of 7.62.13 – Number of scores over fifty by Kallis, the most by any player in the IPL. Shaun Marsh, Sachin Tendulkar, Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma have ten each.26 – The most runs conceded in the last over of an innings in 2011, by Ashok Dinda against Pune. Mashrafe Mortaza was also taken for 26 runs off the final over against Deccan in 2009.28 – Number of matches won by Chennai and Mumbai, the most for any team. Rajasthan are next, with 27 wins in 49 matches.28.70 – The runs per wicket in IPL 2011 is the highest among all seasons. In contrast, the runs per wicket is lowest in IPL 2009 (23.41). The run-rate is highest in 2008 (8.30) and lowest in 2009 (7.48).41 – Adam Gilchrist, with 27 catches and 14 stumpings, has the most dismissals for a wicketkeeper in the IPL. He is followed by Dinesh Karthik (37) and Kumar Sangakkara (31). Sangakkara leads the tally in IPL 2011 with eight dismissals.54 – The number of sixes conceded by Warne across all seasons of the IPL, the most by any bowler. Chawla (49) and Praveen (48) are next.59 – The highest number of runs given away by a bowler in an IPL game, by Rajasthan’s Siddharth Trivedi against Punjab in 2011. RP Singh, playing for Deccan, also leaked 59 against Kolkata in 2008.69 – The number of sixes hit by Gilchrist, the most by any player in the IPL. Yusuf Pathan and Suresh Raina have hit 66 and 63 sixes. Valthaty heads the list in IPL 2011 with 12 sixes.72.25 – The average of Marsh in wins, the highest among players who have scored at least 500 runs in victories. AB de Villiers is next, with an average of 64.75 in wins. Tendulkar has the most runs in wins (917).152 – The stand between Gautam Gambhir and Kallis against Rajasthan is the highest in IPL 2011 and the second highest overall across all seasons. The highest remains the 155-run opening stand between Gilchrist and VVS Laxman against Mumbai in 2008.200 – The number of runs scored in boundaries by Valthaty, the highest among batsmen in IPL 2011. He is followed by David Warner, who has 144 runs in fours and sixes.222.22 – The strike-rate of Jesse Ryder during his knock of 60 off 27 balls against Delhi, the highest in a 50-plus innings in IPL 2011. Yusuf, during his innings of 100 off 37 balls against Mumbai in 2010, had a strike rate of 270.27, the highest for a fifty-plus score in the IPL.433 – The number of runs scored in the match between Delhi and Punjab in Delhi, the highest in IPL 2011 and the third highest overall across all seasons. The highest is 469 in the match between Chennai and Rajasthan in Chennai in 2010 followed by 447 in the game between Punjab and Chennai in Mohali in 2008.579 – The number of runs put on by Rohit and Symonds in 22 innings, the most for any non-opening batting pair. MS Dhoni and Raina are next, with 566 runs in 17 innings.

After winning three of their first five tournaments, and making the semi-finals and final in the other two, Chennai Super Kings finally succumbed to the law of averages

Nitin Sundar at the MA Chidambaram Stadium04-Oct-2011Towards the end of the debacle that was the English summer, an SMS joke had become popular among Indian cricket tragics – that every day since April 2 has been Fools’ Day for MS Dhoni’s supporters.It was dark humour at its worst, and sidestepped the fact that Dhoni’s Chennai fans didn’t have it so bad, with a memorable IPL campaign to savour after the World Cup. The Super Kings’ abject Champions League defence, however, means his international blues have now extended to his franchise yellows. It also raises the more uncomfortable question of whether, six months after the best moment of his life, Dhoni has completely lost his winning touch.By the time the last rites were administered – in front of a shell-shocked crowd that did not know what defeat meant until ten days back – the Super Kings were a poor imitation of the champion outfit whose dominance had become almost inevitable. Prior to this tournament, they had made four finals in five tournaments, and were losing semi-finalists in the other. Their last three campaigns had all ended in title wins. Surely there must have been a catch somewhere in the fine-print?David Warner’s mind-boggling century ended the Super Kings’ fairytale in violent fashion, but there were warning signs right through the tournament. The consistency of their Indian batsmen – Suresh Raina, M Vijay and S Badrinath – had been the Super Kings’ differentiator in the IPL, where other sides struggled to find domestic players good enough to back up international talent. The trio was collectively off the boil this time, managing a combined 158 runs in 12 outings, at an average of just over 13. Michael Hussey and Dwayne Bravo tried to carry the slack through the tournament, but it was always going to be too much.While the batsmen were a let-down right through, the bowlers chose to misfire on the biggest day. Albie Morkel pulled out on the eve of the game, leaving the attack and the middle-order short-changed. His absence left the onus on Doug Bollinger and R Ashwin, but Warner had audacious plans in store for both. Ashwin came on inside the Powerplay, and Warner immediately unsettled him with a couple of clobbered switch-hits. Ashwin never recovered.”He was one of their wicket-takers that we had to respect, but I thought why not go after him,” Warner said. “We didn’t want him to get on top of the batsmen. I thought the best way to go about it was to switch-hit him and make him think, ‘Alright, where do I bowl now’. That’s exactly what he did, he stopped at the crease and from there I knew he was going to start dragging them short and not pitch them up. We took him out of the equation and another guy had to stand up for them. Fortunately for us, none of them did.”No confetti this time for the defending champions•AFPIn reality, Warner did not let anyone else do so. The Super Kings’ cupboard had remained barren until Bollinger’s inspirational arrival midway through the 2010 IPL season. Today he ran into his own men, in whose company he had won the inaugural edition of the Champions League. The team with more New South Welshmen won this battle, as Bollinger was looted for 48 in three overs.”There’s no doubt there’s always a good rivalry with one of our players,” Simon Katich said. “I am sure the boys probably had the battle in the back of their minds. They wanted to see who would win that battle with Doug and I am sure they wanted to get him!”CSK may have got away with the odd player or two being off-colour. But for that, they would have needed Dhoni at his inspirational best. They would have needed the Dhoni who smashed Irfan Pathan into the ice-topped Dharamsala hills before jabbing his own helmet in an adrenaline-induced fury during IPL 2010. In his place, they had a mentally and physically jaded, error-prone man. Against Mumbai, he clanged a simple stumping to allow Malinga’s match-winning heist. Against T&T, he crawled to 7 off 22 balls in a game that was lost by 12 runs. Against NSW, he was out of ideas against Warner, and out too soon in the chase.Stephen Fleming, the CSK coach, admitted managing fatigue, especially with Dhoni, Raina and Hussey, was a challenge throughout the event. He also lamented the change in the Chepauk wicket that not only negated the home advantage, but also worked against the Super Kings’ brand of cricket. To sum up, he could have just as well used a quote that Dhoni famously made – a few weeks early in hindsight – after India lost the Lord’s Test. “Most of the things that could go wrong, did.”In retrospect, the amazing thing is that it took so long for that to happen to this side. Law of Averages 1, Chennai Super Kings 0.

ESPNcricinfo presents Plays of the Day from the CB Series ODI between Australia and Sri Lanka in Melbourne

Brydon Coverdale at the MCG02-Mar-2012The run-out that wasn’t
The throw came in, the wicketkeeper whipped the bails off, the umpire raised his finger and Dinesh Chandimal began to walk off the field. But there was more to what looked like a straightforward run-out than first met the eye. Lahiru Thirimanne’s cut was collected at deep point by Ben Hilfenhaus, who slid and relayed the ball to David Warner, who in turn sent it on to Matthew Wade to catch Chandimal short. But replays showed Hilfenhaus’ heel had touched the boundary while he had the ball in his hand. That message was relayed to the on-field umpires and it was a reprieve for Chandimal, and a boundary for Sri Lanka.The catch
The old catch it on the rope, toss it back into play, fall over the boundary and step back in to catch it again. It’s a routine that had hardly been considered, let alone seen on a cricket field a few years ago. Now it’s so common that such catches are almost passé. Almost, but not quite. Michael Hussey’s catch to get rid of Thisara Perera was perhaps not as spectacular as some other such takes, but any man who thinks fast enough and is good enough to pull off such a catch in the deep deserves praise. It’s a catch that requires awareness, skill and dexterity, all of which Hussey possesses in abundance.The fortunate finger
The Hussey catch was the first of Daniel Christian’s three hat-trick wickets. The second was an lbw that was close, but according to Eagle Eye, out. The third was not. Whether the umpire Rod Tucker got caught up in the moment or whether he simply misjudged how far the ball was moving towards the leg side, Nuwan Kulasekara was unlucky to be given out lbw and Christian was fortunate to become the fourth man to take an ODI hat-trick for Australia. Replays showed the ball would have missed the stumps.The disappearing bat
Wicketkeeping can be a dangerous business, as Kumar Sangakkara well knows. But this time he was not the man in peril. During the 24th over of Sri Lanka’s innings, Sangakkara pulled a delivery from Xavier Doherty with such force that he lost his grip on the bat and it flew past behind him and just missed the gloveman Matthew Wade. It could easily have hit Wade, or the stumps, but did neither. All’s well that ends well.The fine
Visiting fans often struggle to understand the strangely specific amounts that they can be fined for various activities in Australia. A few would have been puzzled when the big screen told them they could be fined $488 for any behaviour that resulted in them being evicted from the MCG by police. That figure is the result of fines being issued based on “penalty points” written in to Victorian law. One penalty point is worth $122.14 – another mystery in itself – and a behavioural breach at the MCG clearly brings a fine of four penalty points. What happens to the extra 56 cents is anyone’s guess.Edited by Nikita Bastian

Plays of the Day from the fourth day of the third Test between Sri Lanka and Pakistan in Pallekele

Kanishkaa Balachandran in Pallekele11-Jul-2012Poor shot of the day
The sun was out and the fourth day pitch resembled the one at the SSC, with barely any movement on offer. On the third day, Thilan Samaraweera and Tharanga Paranavitana survived a testing morning session without being dislodged, and today, Mohammad Hafeez and Azhar Ali had all but emulated them. The pair had added a fairly chanceless 83, until Hafeez lost his concentration. With another ten minutes till lunch, Dilhara Fernando slipped in an innocuous full delivery outside the off stump, probably wide enough to be penalised, but Hafeez couldn’t resist chasing it. The ball took the outside edge and went chest-high to Paranavitana at first slip. Nearly two hours of hard work was undone by an uncharacteristic shot by Hafeez, and the hosts finally had a breather.Bowling change of the day
Ironically, the most experienced of the Sri Lanka seamers, Fernando, was sparingly used by Mahela Jayawardene. When Sri Lanka took the second new ball, Nuwan Kulasekara and Thisara Perera were the preferred options. Fernando was brought back in the 90th over, with the hope of breaking the stand between Asad Shafiq and Azhar Ali. The partnership had just reached 100, when Fernando tempted Azhar into a slash outside off. It didn’t bounce as much, and Azhar played a tired shot without moving his feet. Like with Hafeez, it was a rare lapse in concentration. Fernando struck again in his following over, trapping Mohammad Sami lbw with a Yorker.Shot of the day
Jayawardene had attacked for most part, packing the slip cordon and keeping most of his fielders in. With the Hafeez-Azhar stand building, he went defensive on the on side, placing a deep square leg for Hafeez. Kulasekara bowled it short and but Hafeez not only controlled the pull, he placed it perfectly in the gap between deep square leg and fine leg for a boundary and made a mockery of the field set.

Although not in the original squad, Faf du Plessis spent plenty of hours on the field at Headingley and may now not be far away from a Test cap himself

Firdose Moonda in Derby09-Aug-2012When Faf du Plessis makes his Test debut – and it does seem to be a when rather than an if – he will be the fifth graduate of Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool (Affies) currently playing international cricket. AB de Villiers and Jacques Rudolph are two of the others while New Zealand’s Kruger van Wyk and Neil Wagner make up the remaining contingent.Add that to the six national rugby players they have produced, triple Australian Open tennis winner, Johan Kriek, five participants at last year’s World Junior Athletics Championship and the boy’s institution is comfortably one of the best sporting breeding grounds in the country. Apart from discipline and quality coaching, no-one seems to be able to pinpoint exactly why they have been good, not even Du Plessis.”It must be something in the koshuispap [boarding school food],” Du Plessis said with a shrug and a laugh. “I don’t really know though, I guess something must just be going right.”From a cricketing perspective, we were just a very good side. I guess it was one of those times when you are lucky enough to have that. I suppose they took their sport really seriously as well. Maybe I took it too seriously and didn’t take my academics seriously enough. Also, because it’s a boys’ school, you really get in tight.”Du Plessis was part of a first team that also included first-class regulars Heino Kuhn, the wicketkeeper-batsmen who has played for South Africa in T20s, and Johann Myburgh, the opening batsman who moved to New Zealand. They only lost a handful of times in the period they played together and became known for their promise. That almost all of them have achieved at higher levels is testament to the excellence of their grounding.De Villiers was the one earmarked for success early on and fast-tracked through the domestic set-up before making his international debut at the age of 20. Du Plessis, who was De Villiers’ closest compatriot, always lagged a little behind, although many will argue that he is just as talented. He spent more time in the franchise set-up, a few seasons at Lancashire, where his fielding became the stuff of legend, and was eventually picked in the ODI side where he was reunited with De Villiers.Now, Du Plessis has joined De Villiers in another national set-up – the Test squad – something he always wanted for himself, but was never in a position to challenge for until recently. Du Plessis was seen as a smash and grab cricketer until Matthew Maynard allowed him the opportunity to bat higher up the Titans order. There, he scored 599 runs in four matches, including three hundreds and spent a markedly longer time at the crease than ever before.With similar leadership skill to De Villiers, Du Plessis was named South Africa A captain and he performed well for them in an unofficial Test series against Sri Lanka A where he also made a century. With South Africa’s Test No.6 batting position the only one that is still up for debate, because Rudolph has yet to record a significant innings there, Du Plessis threw his name into the hat with those performances.He was rewarded with a call-up as cover for Albie Morkel who injured his ankle before the second Test after himself being a replacement for Marchant de Lange. The South Africa squad went from a lanky fast bowler to a bombastic allrounder to a batsman who bowls some legspin, but that will not bother Du Plessis, who ultimately benefitted.”I was in bed, it was 7:30 in the morning and I was preparing to fly to Ireland with the A side the next day when Andrew Hudson phoned me and told me I had been picked,” Du Plessis said. “I was shocked. The Test team was already selected and you don’t hope for someone to get injured. But, in the last 12 months, I’ve put in a lot of hard work.”Du Plessis is unlikely to feature in the starting XI on this tour but will get a chance to prove himself in the final warm-up match against Derby over the next two days. He understands that it is “another opportunity to make sure I’ve keep doing the good things I have been doing.”Already, he has had some time to show off his fielding skills when he subbed for Alviro Petersen in the second Test at Headingley. Petersen sustained a grade one strain to the right hamstring during his eight hour, 53 minute stint making 182 and needed a substitute for the full duration of England’s two innings.It allowed Du Plessis to play a part in on-field activities despite being a fringe player. “It’s nice to be involved,” he said. “Before I made my debut for the ODI side, I did two matches on the side. I don’t mind sitting on the side and learning. I like to field as well, so that’s my contribution.”South Africa’s new management team, under Gary Kirsten, have been careful to make sure all the players in the squad are included in match-day activities, but Du Plessis has been able to do a little more than most. While Robin Peterson, Lonwabo Tsotsobe and Thami Tsolekile have taken it in turns to carry drinks, towels and messages and have occasionally fielded, Du Plessis was part of the group that came under attack from Kevin Pietersen’s blitzkrieg.”It was one of the better innings I’ve watched. It can completely take the game away,” he said. “Luckily, I didn’t have to bowl to him.” Although he didn’t, he was part of the think tank that tried to stop Pietersen and being with the on-field XI during periods of strategising, gave Du Plessis the opportunity get a much closer look at how the Test side operates.”It was a really intense serious vibe. You can see the guys are really geared up,” he said “I’m part of the one-day side and that’s cricket all about energy but here, you can see its proper cricket.” As proper, perhaps, as the kind of the cricket he would have played at Affies.

Plays of the day from the fourth ODI between Sri Lanka and India in Colombo

Abhishek Purohit in Colombo31-Jul-2012Rohit’s moment of agony
Rohit Sharma was under pressure with scores of 5, 0 and 0 in the series, and he batted like a man under pressure. He took ten deliveries to get off the mark and fell leg-before off his 14th. The moment he was struck on the pad, he waited, dreading that the umpire’s finger would go up, hoping that it wouldn’t. When it did, Rohit stood still at the crease, contemplating another failure, before he started to trudge off in disappointment, only to be stopped by the square-leg umpire, who asked him to wait till they checked whether it was a no-ball. Rohit stopped, hoping again, only to be dealt a second, final blow when he was informed it was a legal delivery.The stat
Legspinner dropped to replace long-benched batsman who could have replaced repeatedly struggling batsman. How would India deal with playing only four bowlers after choosing to play both Rohit and Manoj Tiwary? By over-bowling their part-timers, and over-bowling them successfully. At one stage, R Ashwin, the specialist offspinner, Tiwary, the part-time legspinner, and Sehwag, the part-time offspinner, had remarkably similar figures: 7-0-31-0, 7-1-31-1, and 7-1-31-2.The catch
Sachithra Senanayake, the offspinner, hasn’t played a game this series, but he probably dropped the third ODI when, as a substitute, he put down Man-of-the-Match Suresh Raina at extra cover at a tight moment during India’s chase. Today, Virender Sehwag, who came out crashing boundaries, got a leading edge towards short cover, where Senanayake was fielding. This one was much a tougher chance, but Senanayake dived, completed it and turned around to face the dressing room with arms aloft.The fortunate five
Suresh Raina could have been dismissed several times early in his innings. During one such instance, he was almost at Virat Kohli’s end but escaped being run out. He was dropped on 19 by Senanayake in the third game, today he was put down on the same score by Mahela Jayawardene. In the next over, the 34th, he pushed one to the off side and set off for a risky single. Had the throw hit, Raina would have been out by some distance. As it turned out, not only did he survive, he also got four extra runs as the throw missed the stumps and sped to the deep midwicket boundary.The stroke
Towards the end of the game, Kohli toyed with the Sri Lanka bowling, cracking eight boundaries off his final 16 legal deliveries. One of those shots showed what kind of form he is in at the moment: Lasith Malinga slung in a very full delivery, right onto the stumps. It was not quite a yorker, but Kohli’s response was as though he had spotted a harmless full toss. He opened up slightly, got his feet out of the way to make room for the bat swing, and timed the ball to the square-leg boundary.

ESPNcricinfo presents the plays of the day from the second day in Ahmedabad

George Dobell in Ahmedabad16-Nov-2012Milestone of the day
There was, as befits an innings of such class, no extravagant celebrations; just a smile and a nod in the direction of his teammates. He played more attractive shots – some of the pulls were murderous, some of the drives gorgeous – but the moment Cheteshwar Pujara reached his maiden double-century in Test cricket with a perfectly placed glide to third man through an eight-man off-side field, surely heralded the emergence of a significant global talent. It is hard to imagine there will not be many more centuries to come. And to think: we wondered how India would replace Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman.Stroke of the day
Yuvraj Singh struggled a little against Graeme Swann on the first evening but, early on the second day, it became clear that he and Cheteshwar Pujara wanted to hit the off-spinner out of the attack in the knowledge that it would throw England’s plans into chaos if they did so. So, in the course of an over that cost 15 runs, Yuvraj skipped down the wicket and drove Swann powerfully for a six back over his head. It was not just the shot – pleasing though it was – but the fact that it summed up Yuvraj’s return to full health and potency. Even the most ardent England supporter can only rejoice at that.Blow of the day
Maybe England could shrug off the early loss of Nick Compton; he was a debutant, after all. And perhaps they could shrug off the loss of James Anderson, too; he was just a nightwatchman. But the loss of Jonathan Trott, pushing with hard hands at an offbreak from R Ashwin, moments before stumps thumped home India’s utter dominance by the close of the second day. Trott, who survived a huge appeal for leg before moments earlier, is one of England’s more reliable batsmen and a sound player of spin.Drop of the day
The dye was cast long before Alastair Cook dropped Ravi Ashwin: India were already on 501 for 6 and Ashwin was on 20. It cost England little, but spoke of a pattern that is becoming all too familiar. Nor was it an easy chance. Cook, at extra-cover, seemed a little slow to react to an uppish drive off the bowling of Samit Patel and could only get his finger tips to the ball. But it was the fifth chance that England had failed to accept during the innings and exactly the sort of half-chance that they once took so readily. It was also just the sort of half-chance they knew they would have to take if they were to be successful in India.Consolation of the day
This was a gruelling, joyless day for England. But if there was a bright spot, it came with the wicket of MS Dhoni, who dragged the ball on as he attempted a sweep, to give Graeme Swann the 14th five-wicket haul of his career. Only five Englishmen, Ian Botham, Bob Willis, Derek Underwood and Alec Bedser, have taken more and only two – Botham and Willis – have taken more outside the UK. It is a statistic that underlines Swann’s worth to England in all conditions and against all opponents. England would have looked a ragged bunch without him in Ahmedabad.