India slumped to its heaviest innings defeat in 34 years on Saturday as Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan and his new spin partner Ajantha Mendis shared 19 wickets to claim a crushing win in the first test.In response to Sri Lanka's 600-6 declared, India was bowled out for 223 and 138 to lose by an innings and 239 runs. It was the biggest innings margin against India since it lost by an innings and 285 runs against England in 1974 and its third worst ever.
The win was also Sri Lanka's third biggest ever innings win, with the other two coming against minnow Zimbabwe."There is a very good feeling with everybody and there were a contributions from a lot of people," Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene said after the match.
India began Saturday at 158-6 in its first innings, facing a difficult task merely to avoid the follow-on, and its famed batting line-up could find no answer to Sri Lanka's spin pair, losing 14 wickets in just over two sessions."When you see that batting lineup you would expect them to give a fight. That's (India collapse) was a surprising factor," Jayawardene said.
Muralitharan (5-84 and 6-26) recorded the 21st 10-wicket haul of his career, and Sri Lanka appears to have unearthed a short-term spin partner and longer-term potential replacement in Mendis (4-72 and 4-60) who impressed on debut.
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