da lvbet： Plays of the Day from the Asia Cup match between Sri Lanka and India in Mirpur

da brdice： Siddarth Ravindran at the Shere Bangla National Stadium13-Mar-2012The full toss
A low-profile tournament, an easy-paced subcontinental pitch, anopposition missing several frontline bowlers. Perfect for SachinTendulkar to end the wait? No. He was surprised by a high full tossfrom Suranga Lakmal in the sixth over, handing a catch to cover.Perhaps Lakmal was carried away by the manner of that wicket, as hebowled a slew of full tosses throughout his spell, without furthersuccess.The message
Much was made of Tendulkar’s search for a 100th hundred now lasting afull year, but Gautam Gambhir has been century-less in internationalcricket for even longer, stretching back to December 2010. After 41overs in Mirpur, both Virat Kohli and Gambhir were on 99, and you’dhave expected that of the celebrations to follow, Kohli’s would havebeen the more expressive. Instead, it was Gambhir who wentballistic – an aggressive fist pump followed by plenty of screamingand pointing towards the dressing room. That’s sort of becoming atrend in this tournament, with Tamim Iqbal also celebrating similarlytwo days ago after reaching his half-century.The miss
Gambhir wouldn’t have had the chance to send that message to thedressing room, if Dinesh Chandimal had hit the stumps when Gambhirwas on 94. A notoriously poor runner, he has been run out 16 times inODIs already, and would have been for the 17th when he set off for asingle after tapping the ball towards short cover. Gambhir was way outof his crease when Chandimal swooped in and let fly from close range,but missed. It was the second reprieve Chandimal handed to Gambhir,after shelling a tough low catch at long-on early in the innings.The adjustment
After timing one straight to the mid-on fielder and then hitting thestumps with a straight drive, Gambhir needed to try somethingdifferently. For the next pitched-up delivery from Nuwan Kulasekara,he merely stepped away from the pitch of the ball and opened up theshoulder slightly. The little movement helped him to his firstboundary, a beautiful on-drive past mid-on’s right hand andKulasekara’s left. More than the timing or placement, it was theadjustment that caught the eye.The shot
Mahela Jayawardene routinely makes batting look effortless, and onTuesday, there was another demonstration of that skill. In an hour ofstylish strokeplay that even Indian fans wouldn’t have minded toomuch, Jayawardene rarely resorted to brute force, instead relying ontiming and placement. Picking out the highlight of his 59-ball 78 istough, but it was probably a perfectly placed on-the-up extra coverdrive off Vinay Kumar in the 10th over.