Daminda Wijesuriya reporting from Kanpur

India exposed the batting deficiencies and lack of application of the touring Sri Lankans to record a crushing an innings and 144 run victory in the second cricket test at Kanpur yesterday. It was one of Sri Lanka’s heaviest defeats in test cricket and the hosts took a 1-0 lead in the three match series.

Tilan Samaraweera fought a lone battle receiving minimal support from recognized batsmen. The fate was inevitable and the solitary resistance from the sixth wicket partnership of 61 runs between Tilan Samaraweera and Prasanna Jayawardane was simply not enough.

Sri Lanka captain, Kumar Sangakkara attributed the loss to a missed chance on the first day, but also admitted that he and fellow batsmen were below par. “With our fast bowlers we created the opportunities.

The disappointment is that we did not capitalize on those chances”. “Sehwag was dropped on two occasions in the first over in the two test matches. Once he (Sehwag) gives you a chance at zero, in the first over of the day, we’re expected to grab those chances and get into the game. The openers put on a 233 run stand and that had us back peddling” Sangakkara said at the post match press conference.

Despite fast bowler Shanthakumaran Sreesanth being adjudged man of the match for his five wicket effort on a batsmen friendly track, the Sri Lankan skipper did not regret of opting for three spinners.

I think our spinners would have been quite a threat on this track. It would have been very hard to score runs off them as well during the latter part of the match”. “Unfortunately, the chances that we did create, with our fast bowlers, were not taken by us. We allowed the batsmen to get away with that, 400 runs on the first day is really too much” Sangakkara added further.