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Sri Lanka thump India

Galle - World bowling record-holder Muttiah Muralitharan retired with 800 Test wickets on Thursday as Sri Lanka thumped India by 10 wickets in their first match.

The off-spinner had last man Pragyan Ojha caught at slip by Mahela Jayawardene to reach the landmark and terminate India's second innings in the post-lunch session of the final day's play.

India, who were made to follow on 244 runs behind, were bowled out for 338 in their second knock, leaving Sri Lanka a modest target of 95 runs in the opening match of the three-Test series.

The hosts cruised home without losing a wicket as Tharanga Paranavitana followed his first-innings century with 23 not out and Tillakaratne Dilshan smashed an unbeaten 68 off 47 balls.

Dilshan signalled the emphatic win by lofting off-spinner Harbhajan Singh over long-on for six.

Muralitharan, 38, who has taken more Test (800) and one-day (515) wickets than any bowler in history, remains open to playing limited-overs games.

He claimed 5-63 in the first innings of his final appearance and 3-128 in the second to set up the hosts' victory at the Galle International Stadium.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse flew in from the capital, Colombo, to briefly watch the match and presented Muralitharan with a memento during the lunch break.

Fireworks went off and the packed stands stood up to greet Sri Lanka's favourite cricketing son when the last wicket fell as team-mates rushed to congratulate Muralitharan.

Some 15 000 fans, including Muralitharan's parents, his Indian wife, Madhimalar, and four-year old son, Naren, faced anxious moments before the landmark was achieved.

The spinner needed 23 overs to move from 799 to 800 following a doughty rearguard action by India, whose last three wickets added 141 runs after being 197-7 at one stage.

Venkatsai Laxman led the fightback with a defiant 69, adding 49 for the eighth wicket with debutant Abhimanyu Mithun and 68 for the ninth with Ishant Sharma.

India had added five runs to their overnight total of 181-5 when fast bowler Lasith Malinga bowled skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni with a toe-crushing yorker to claim his fourth wicket in the innings.

Muralitharan, who dismissed Yuvraj Singh off the last ball on Wednesday, trapped Harbhajan Singh leg-before in the day's fourth over to move to 799 wickets.

Mithun helped himself to five boundaries in his 25 when he became Malinga's fifth victim in the innings to make India 246-8.

Laxman was run out by a direct throw from Angelo Mathews, but Sharma hung on for 106 deliveries to hit a career-best 31 not out.

India, the top-ranked Test side, have not won a Test series in Sri Lanka since 1993.

The action now shifts to Colombo where the second Test starts at the Sinhalese sports club on July 26, followed by the third at the P. Sara Oval on August 3.

Teams:

Sri Lanka: TM Dilshan, NT Paranavitana, KC Sangakkara (capt), DPMD Jayawardene, TT Samaraweera, AD Mathews, HAPW Jayawardene (wk), HMRKB Herath, M Muralitharan, SL Malinga, UWMBCA Welegedara

India: G Gambhir, V Sehwag, R Dravid, SR Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni (capt & wk), Harbhajan Singh, PP Ojha, I Sharma, A Mithun
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