Cricket: Ranatunga vents his anger

Sri Lanka 369 India 293-4

Arjuna Ranatunga, the Sri Lankan captain, yesterday clashed with the umpire Srinivas Venkataraghavan in Mohali as India laboured to take control of the first Test, despite a century from the opener Navjot Sidhu.

During a dull third day's play marked by slow scoring and negative bowling, India took their overnight score of 91 for 0 to 293 for 4 by stumps, 76 runs behind.

Sidhu made 131, his ninth Test century, but his effort was overshadowed by a heated exchange between Ranatunga and Venkataraghavan after lunch when the Indian umpire turned down two appeals for bat-pad catches against Sidhu, who was then on 110, during an over from the spinner Muttiah Muralitharan. Ranatunga angrily walked up to the umpire and remonstrated with him.

India won toss

SRI LANKA - First Innings 369 (M S Atapattu 108, S T Jayasuriya 53; J Srinath 4-92, A Kuruvilla 4-88).

INDIA - First Innings

(Overnight: 91 for 0)

N S Sidhu run out 131

N R Mongia b Muralitharan 57

R S Dravid c Ranatunga b Jayasuriya 34

*S R Tendulkar c Dharmasena

b Jayasuriya 23

M Azharuddin not out 23

S C Ganguly not out 7

Extras (b12 lb2 nb2 w2) 18

Total (for 4) 293

Fall: 1-120 2-214 3-259 4-274.

Bowling (to date): Vaas 19-7-42-0; S C de Silva 17-3-45-0; Dharmasena 26-9-43-0; Muralitharan 51-9-90-1; Jayasuriya 30-12-59-2.

Umpires: S Venkataraghavan (Ind) and S A Bucknor (WI).