Galle: Spin genius Muttiah Muralitharan brought down the curtains on his Test career in a blaze of glory by becoming the first cricketer to scalp 800 wickets as Sri Lanka spanked India by ten wickets in the first Test here on Thursday.
The hosts had to sweat a bit to wrap up the remaining five wickets and dismiss the world's number one team for 338 in their second innings, a total largely built around gritty contributions from tailenders.
With rain clouds hovering over the stadium, the Sri Lankan openers Tillakaratne Dilshan (68 not out) and Tharanga Paranavitana (23 not out) showed great urgency to rattle up the required runs on the final day to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
Dilshan brought about the victory in style by clobbering Harbhajan Singh for a mighty six as the Lankans raced to 96 no loss in just 14.1 overs to record their seventh 10-wicket win overall and the second against India.
Resuming at a precarious 181 for five, India lost captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (4) and Harbhajan Singh (8) in quick succesion but VVS Laxman (69) and a dogged resistance by tailenders Ahimanyu Mithun (25), Ishant Sharma (31 not out) and Pragyan Ojha (13) delayed the inevitable.
The late order fightback not only frustrated the hosts but helped India to avoid the ignominy of an innings defeat and take a slender lead to stretch the game beyond the tea break at the Galle International stadium.
Muralitharan hiumself played a key role in his swansong Test by scalping five wickets in the first innings and three in the second to take his overall tally to 800, thus becoming the first cricketer to achieve the remarkable feat.
India's capitulation was all the more shocking considering an entire day's play was washed out because of rain. While nothing great was expected from the depleted bowling attack, the failure of the star-studded batting line up hurt the team badly.
The two teams will now travel to Colombo for the second Test starting July 26 and another defeat could dislodge India from the number one position.
If Sri Lanka win the series 2-0, India would lose four rating points and come down to the third position behind South Africa. Sri Lanka, on the other hand, will gain six points and become the number one team. PTI
