Randiv revels in maiden wicket

Test debutant Suraj Randiv was ecstatic after getting his first wicket, that of Virender Sehwag, with a doosra. "Sehwag was on 99 at that time. I thought he might go for a big shot and I thought of bowling a doosra at him. It worked and I got his wicket," said Randiv who ended the third day of the second Test with figures of 2 for 108. "When you get a player of his calibre it's a big thing. It's a privilege. I just came onto bowl and I thought he will do something different. Our bowlers hadn't given him any easy runs at that stage."

Sehwag had said after the day's play that he had spotted Randiv's doosra, but decided to attempt the big hit anyway. "I bowl the doosra but like Murali it doesn't go the other way a lot," Randiv said. "But I got some bounce and some help (today)," he said.

Randiv said that he was a bit nervous playing in his first Test. "However, with confidence that goes away. I had an opportunity to bowl a lot and it just went away. I guess any player will be nervous."

Randiv stated that there was more help for the spinners on the wicket than for the fast bowlers. "There was a lot of bounce on the track but it was a bit slow." He said that he was not overawed by the reputation of the Indian batting line-up. "I was just thinking of bowling my line and length. I got a bit of bounce with my action. It was very difficult to bowl a good line and length to Sachin [Tendulkar]. He comes forward and he goes back. It is very difficult to get a correct line and length to him. I think I bowled well to him.

He said there was still a lot of hard work ahead for Sri Lanka in the Test. "We need to stop the runs. We need to work hard. The pitch is good and it is very hard to get wickets. We have to be disciplined."