Colombo, July 27 (IANS) Skipper Kumar Sangakkara smashed his seventh double ton and Mahela Jayawardene notched up his 28th century as Sri Lanka ended the second day’s play with a massive first innings lead of 547 runs against India in the second cricket Test here Tuesday.
Sangakkara (219) and Jayawardene (174) stitched a 193-run third-wicket stand to enable Sri Lanka declare their first innings at 624 for four shortly after tea at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground. Thilan Samaraweera made an unbeaten 76.
India also made a strong start with openers Virender Sehwag (64) and Murali Vijay (22) seeing the last 18 overs of the day by scoring 95 runs.
For Sangakkara it was his seventh double ton, and he surpassed Marvan Atapattu’s six and now has the most double hundreds in his country. Sangakkara’s double-century put him at par with Wally Hammond of England. Only Australian legend Don Bradman (12) and West Indian Brian Lara (9) have more scores of 200 or more.
Jayawardene also reached a personal milestone as his century at this ground was his 10th three-figure knock at the same venue, the most by a batsman at a single ground, surpassing Bradman’s tally of nine at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Jayawardene and Sangakkara, who have Test cricket’s highest partnership of 624 runs at the same venue against South Africa four years ago, batted in an aggressive fashion as the Indian bowlers’ suffering continued for the second straight day.
Jayawardene hit 20 boundaries and a six in his 28th Test hundred, building Sri Lanka’s advantage on the lifeless wicket.
Sangakkara started the proceedings by hitting Abhimanyu Mithun for a crisp boundary through mid-off and then flicked the next ball through the midwicket for another four.
Sangakkara again smashed Mithun for three successive boundaries in his third over, which helped him surpass the 150-run mark.
Jayawardene also freed his arms with a couple of boundaries off Ishant Sharma and lifted left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha for a four over mid-on to bring up the 100-run partnership for the third wicket.
Ojha found himself at the receiving end of Sangakkara’s blade as the Sri Lankan captain hit four boundaries in five balls to move on to 199. In the next over, Sangakkara’s square drive, well clear of the slip fielder, off Harabhajan raced towards the boundary to bring up his well-deserved double hundred.
Sangakkara, who was on 214 at lunch, fell in the fourth over after the break when he edged a lazy drive off part-time spinner Virender Sehwag to Rahul Dravid at lone slip. The left-handed batsman hit 29 boundaries in his seven-hour stay.
Jayawardene and Samaraweera added another 176 runs for the fourth wicket as Sri Lanka posted a huge score. Harbhajan picked up the second wicket of the day by dismissing Jayawardene prompting Sangakkara to declare the innings.
