Dravid, Yuvraj lift India after a poor start

Ahmedabad, Nov 16 (PTI) Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh
rescued India from a disastrous start with an unbeaten 73-run
partnership which guided the hosts to 105 for four at lunch on
the opening day of their first cricket Test against Sri Lanka
here Monday.
Dravid (45) and Yuvraj (35) were holding fort at the
break.
Left-arm medium pacer Chanaka Welegedara, playing in only
his second Test spread over two years, led the Lankan assault
on the much-vaunted Indian batting line-up and dismissed the
top three batsmen in a fiery opening spell to leave the hosts
struggling at 31 for three.
Swinging the ball in late, the 28-year-old struck three
big blows, including two in four balls, to bring down the home
team on its knees and raise visions of a repeat of the last
Test here when India were bowled out by South Africa for 76 in
20 overs in the opening session in April, 2008.
Welegedera's first spell read a splendid 7-2-28-3 and his
victims were openers Gautam Gambhir (1), Virender Sehwag (16)
and champion batsman Sachin Tendulkar (4), whose celebrations
as he stepped into his 21st year in the international game
were rudely halted by the superb bowling.
Right arm pacer Dammika Prasad, playing in only his
fourth Test, struck another blow from the other end to send
back V V S Laxman for a duck that left India punch-drunk at 32
for four before Dravid (45 in 109 minutes) and Yuvraj (35 in
79 minutes) stemmed the rot with an unbroken 106-ball fifth
wicket stand. More PTI