India A bat themselves into an impregnable position

A century from opener Gautam Gambhir in the India A second innings saw the tourists gain an overall lead of 417 runs over Sri Lanka A at the end of the third day of the first unofficial Test between the two sides being played at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo.

The start of play had earlier been delayed in the morning because of rain. The players finally took the field at 11:45 A.M. with a minimum of 86 overs being scheduled. India A, who had secured a 115-run first innings lead after bowling the home team out for 200 on Friday, got off to a rousing start.

Openers Gambhir and Akash Chopra were in fine nick. A confident Gambhir, fresh from his 79 in the first innings, went after the bowling with unrestrained glee. At the other end, Chopra decided to play the waiting game. The partnership progressed at a healthy rate before Chopra (51) fell with the score reading 138-1 in 38.3 overs.

His dismissal, however, failed to stem the flow of runs with Gambhir continuing to prosper in the company of next man Sridharan Sriram. The partnership between the two left-handers realised 58 runs before Gambhir fell after making 120 off 167 balls with 15 sweetly-timed fours. Gambhir's rich vein of form, coming as it does at a time when Shiv Sunder Das is struggling in the West Indies, must have significantly boosted the former's chances of being included in the Indian squad for the upcoming Test series against England.

Gambhir's departure saw Hrishikesh Kanitkar striding out to the middle. But after making just seven, the India A captain had to suffer the mortification of being castled by fast bowler Pushpakumara.

Rohan Gavaskar, who replaced Kanitkar, started patiently in a bid to ensure that his first-innings failure was not repeated. Sriram could not keep him company for long, being dismissed for 45 after the two had only added 14 runs to their team's score. The Tamil Nadu left-hander's dismissal set the stage for next man Jai Prakash Yadav.

Using his bat like a bludgeon, Yadav rattled up 46 runs off just 50 balls with two fours and three sixes before bad light saw play being called off. Walking off with him was Gavaskar, who was batting on 22.

With India A having already gained a massive overall lead, the duo might not be called upon to strap on their batting pads on the final day. What we might see is India A pushing for a victory after making an overnight declaration. With leg-spinner Amit Mishra in fine bowling form, their chances to go 1-0 up in the three `Test' series look bright indeed.