Kumar Sangakkara departs early in final innings of his career

AT 4.16 pm on Sunday, Kumar Sangakkara walked out to bat for the final time in his international career. And life at the P’Sara Oval came to a standstill. Sri Lanka came to a standstill.

The live band that had been dishing out music, their genre ranging from classic Tamil hits to modern Sinhala numbers, all day long at the Sangakkara fan-zone stopped abruptly.

Half-eaten sandwiches and beer mugs were put away with disdain. So were the ‘Kumar Sangakkara’ posters and banners. There was a brief moment of silence but it lasted maybe a bit more than what Usain Bolt took to show the world yet again that he is still the fastest man on the earth.

The silence—it was deafening and resonated around the ground—was replaced by a chorus of applause and cheers. There were two guards of honour awaiting Sangakkara. He hardly seemed to notice the first tunnel— the one where a bunch of kids and teenagers held aloft cricket bats like they were guns—and waded through the second—the Indian team and the umpires getting together near the pitch—with nothing more than a nod. He didn’t shake the opposition captain’s hand on this occasion.

This might be his farewell, but there was still a Test match to be saved. Unfortunately, Sangakkara’s final hurrah only lasted 29 minutes. But it was an eventful 29 minutes, where Kumar Sangakkara the preeminent accumulator of runs scored a run-a-ball 18, which included three boundaries. The first was a farewell present from Stuart Binny who attempted to hit the stumps at the non-striker’s end but the ball instead went scuttling to the deep midwicket fence.

The second was a neat flick off his pads and the third the trademark Sangakkara drive, even if it wasn’t the picture-perfect bent-knee version. There was also a run-out scare where Dimuth Karunaratane failed to respond to a call for a single, and the veteran had to scamper back to safety. In his last outing to the middle, Sangakkara showed he was human, very temporarily losing his cool at his partner. There were signs of nerves too, more so in his restlessness to rotate strike than his batting. For even on his last day, he looked as fluent, composed and poised as he had on his first day. But then it was over. For the third time in succession, Sangakkara fell to R Ashwin, once again the ball pitching on a length and catching the edge of the bat.

And time came to a standstill again at the P’Sara Oval. The celebrations were muted, as every Indian cricketer rushed towards him, as if to pay their respects to the man who in 15 years of service to the game has turned into an institution As Sangakkara shook each and every Indian cricketer’s hand, the thousands at the Oval were putting their hands together for him for that final time. Sense of relief Even though they didn’t show it, there would have been a big sense of relief in the Indian camp as well to see the back of Sangakkara. Even if his form might have been a tad untoward in the series, he was still the lynchpin of Sri Lanka’s challenge as they tried to save, or even win the second Test on the final day in Colombo. And with his dismissal, they had left themselves with just eight wickets to get to square the series.

Angelo Mathews and Karunaratne then did overcome the emotion of the moment and the stress of the situation with a counterattacking partnership. But Lanka’s hopes will squarely rest on how deep the duo can extend their partnership on the final day—with the target still an improbably 341 runs away. Earlier in the day, Ajinkya Rahane had not only solved the No.

3 crisis but also helped himself to his first century in the subcontinent, and helped the visitors to a sizable lead—even though the declaration did come in bizarre circumstances with Wriddhiman Saha hobbling around on one foot and an injured hamstring. Saha’s injury prevented him from keeping wickets, with KL Rahul taking over on the fourth evening but it’s still unclear whether the Bengal glovesman will be fit to take over on Monday.

India’s tactics at the start of the day were as expected. To gain control over proceedings in the first hour before stepping on the accelerator. And it was Murali Vijay who took the attack to Sri Lanka to start with. For all the runs he’s amassed while grinding down opposition bowlers in Test cricket, the opener does have two IPL centuries to his name and he displayed the damage that he can cause once he dons the aggressive avatar at the Oval. Kamikaze batting There were sixes hit off both pacers and spinners with Dushmantha Chameera being launched over the deep midwicket fence and Rangana Herath being air-lifted over long-on.

Vijay seemed ready to sacrifice himself in kamikaze fashion and not be intent on getting a Test century and unfortunately he paid for it being trapped lbw while attempting a sweep for 82. But Rahane waged on. Thanks to Vijay, India were scoring at almost 5-an-over.

He was joined at the crease he had replaced at the one-drop position, and in company of his Mumbai teammate Rohit Sharma, the right-hander took India past the 350-run lead and from safety zone to dominating zone. He soon brought up his fourth Test century, and by the time he fell had given India a great chance at avenging the first Test defeat at Galle. And on a day a legend walked past the curtains and into the sunset, India were given renewed hope of a new beginning with a Test match win well within their sights.