Mahela makes it a double

Underrated?

Mahela Jayawardene is arguably one of the more underrated batsmen in international cricket today. He doesnt feature in conversations about the games greats too often,but the numbers suggest he deserves more than just a passing mention.

Hes only 32 and is closing in on 9000 runs,not too shabby for someone playing his 108th Test. During the course of this innings,he went past Inzamam-ul-Haq,Javed Miandad and Graham Gooch on the run-charts,and lies in 10th place now. His runs have come at a rate of 54.57 per innings; in the Top Ten only Jacques Kallis and Ricky Ponting have better career averages.

Of his 27 centuries,six have been doubles; only Walter Hammond,Brian Lara and Don Bradman have more. His personal best is 374,against South Africa in Colombo three years ago; only Lara (twice) and Hayden have done better.

His batting is pretty to watch,but monuments such as these arent built on beauty alone; his game flows like silk,but the foundations are set in steel.

Deflating effect

Over six hours of play on Wednesday,he showed enough of both. In one over from Zaheer Khan,he punched him down the ground,clipped him through mid-wicket and then drove him through the covers; three boundaries,each as handsome as the other.

Zaheer and Ishant Sharma tried the bouncer,they pitched it up,they prayed to the gods of reverse swing but got nothing in return. Unbeaten on 36 when play began,Mahela went past the three-figure mark soon after lunch. He was just getting warmed up.

Different batsmen,when they are dominating,seem to evoke varying emotions among bowlers: Ponting,for some reason,seems to fire them up,Tendulkar induces awe. With Jayawardene,they must feel a deflating futility of purpose.

As he rattled along,first in the company of Samaraweera and then Prasanna,Dhoni went to Plan B: induce boredom. Close-in catchers were sent out to the boundary and defensive leg-side fields alternated with defensive off-side fields.

Both Amit Mishra and Harbhajan Singh and even Sachin Tendulkar late in the day came around the wicket and aimed for the rough,more in the hope of containing than picking up wickets.

Field placements

Some of the placements bordered on the bizarre. How often have you seen a deep fine-leg,a deep square-leg and a man between the two three players manning a 40-yard stretch of rope? The 6-3 and 7-2 fields werent working; Dhoni brought out crickets version of the 4-3-3.

Jayawardenes patience outlasted Dhonis creativity though. The boundaries were cut off,so he settled for the singles,the 86th of which brought up his double century. In all,he scored 168 runs in the day and his average against India is now over 80.

Unfortunately for the hosts,the Motera track is just starting to show signs of life,with the spinners getting some turn and bounce late in the day. But if Lanka do stretch their lead to 300 or so,it will be the pressure and not the pitch that could prove crushing.