Sri Lanka have squandered a great opportunity to open their account in Test matches in India.
In the second Test match in Nagpur, Lankan captain Dinesh Chandimal won the toss, decided to give his batsmen the opportunity to pile on the runs when the pitch was at its best for batting. However, when there were a little over 30 minutes remaining for the end of the day’s play, Sri Lanka were bowled out for 205, with their innings lasting only in 79.1 overs.
When the visiting team get the opportunity to review their performance, they will realise they blew up a great opportunity. On a typical day one sub-continent pitch, Sri Lanka had the chance to post a huge total and force the home team on the backfoot. But instead, they decided to take the caution-first approach, scoring runs at a snail’s pace, and that strategy came back to hurt them later in the day. In a complete first session, when there wasn’t any extraordinary assistance for the bowlers, Sri Lanka scored only scored 47 runs at a run-rate of 1.74.
The visitors forced the pace in the afternoon session, adding more than 100 runs between lunch and tea. But even then, because of their overtly go-slow approach in the first session, Sri Lanka were only 151-4 at the tea break – a position most teams would be happy to be in early in the second session. Then came the inevitable collapse in the final session and Sri Lanka had not reached anywhere; the visitors lost 6 wickets for 45 runs to be bundled out for 205.
Indian Bowlers Stepped Up
India were missing the services of Mohammed Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who wreaked havoc in the first Test in Kolkata. But thankfully, they had as replacement at one end Ishant Sharma, who appears to have discovered that wicket-taking rhythm; the Delhi pacer had returns of 20 wickets in the last five first-class matches he had played in, and was the ideal replacement to be summoned.
Credit the BCCI, the National Selectors and the Indian team management, who recognized the importance to keep Ishant Sharma in that wicket-taking form and allowed him to return to the Ranji Trophy after he did not find a place in the XI in the Kolkata Test.
Ishant, who has been an international cricketer for more than a decade now, has earned the reputation of being a form bowler. And he is in form now. The Indian team will do well to keep playing him time and again and reap the returns.
Ashwin & Jadeja Back in Focus
While all the talk in recent days has been about conditions and how the Indian team is doctoring conditions to match what they will most likely encounter on the tour of South Africa – pace, bounce, green grass, etc., the Indian spinners showed they were world class and could succeed even in difficult conditions; Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja – who, in Kolkata, became the first pair of Indian spinners to go wicket-less in a Test match at home – walked away with a heap of wickets, earned purely through a high degree of skill and discipline.
In the morning session, when the grass on the pitch was fresh, Ashwin did the holding job beautifully; it was as if he had seen a spot on the pitch and kept dropping the ball on that area repeatedly. In his 8-over spell in the morning session, Ashwin bowled only one short delivery and erred in line on only 4 occasions. In the afternoon session, it was Jadeja’s turn to do the holding job; in the 11 overs he bowled in that period, Jadeja bowled short only thrice and conceded just over two runs an over.
The two spinners drove home the point that despite conditions not being favourable to their style of bowling, they could still play an important role – of holding one end and building pressure.
Later in the evening, both bowlers attacked in tandem and ran through the Sri Lankan line-up; they varied their angles, deceived batsmen in flight and with their variations. Ashwin finished the innings with returns of 4-67, while Jadeja collected three wickets in his 21 overs.
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