Rohit Sharma is on the verge of winning his first series after being appointed as the full-time captain of the Indian Test team. With 419 more needed to level the series, Sri Lanka have already lost a wicket while chasing a tight target of 447 runs at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. Dimuth Karunaratne was batting on 10 at stumps on the second day of the Pink Test and was accompanied by Kusal Mendis (16*). At the same time, India will have to take the remaining 9 wickets on Monday to win the match.
Sri Lanka got off to a poor start as they dismissed opener Lahiru Thirimanne for a three-ball duck in the very first over. Jasprit Bumrah got the opening breakthrough keeping the batsman in front.
Lanka captain Karunaratne and Mendis then took the innings forward and ensured that the visitors did not lose any more wickets before the stumps.
India declared their second innings at 303 for nine during the final session of the second day. The announcement was made after Lasith Embuldeniya dismissed Axar Patel for 9 runs. Mohammed Shami remained unbeaten on 16 runs.
Earlier in the day, Shreyas Iyer once again smashed 67 off 87 balls while wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant smashed a 28-ball fifty to set the record for the fastest Test half-century by an Indian batsman.
Pant served the fans with plenty of entertainment. He cut, pulled, swept, reverse swept, driven, charged the wicket at will and scored his fifty in just 28 balls, 40 of which came in the boundary. It was the fastest fifty by an Indian, surpassing former captain Kapil Dev’s 40-year-old record against Pakistan. He also fell for 50, becoming the third scalp of left-arm spinner Praveen Jayavikrama (3/50).
The Indians scored well in the second session and the Sri Lankan bowlers failed to take advantage of the favorable spin conditions.
Rohit had counted in selecting his shots before dropping off-spinner Dhananjay de Silva for 46 directly at the hands of Angelo Mathews. His footwork looked good, he swung the left-arm spinners extensively and charged the wicket to counter de Silva’s off-spin.
Vihari, who was taking his place at number three, missed Jayavikrama straight away and lost his off-stump.
Jayavikrama also sent back Virat Kohli (13) who had again fallen off his leg earlier and his quest for that elusive 71st international century had just come to an end. He is now without an international century in 73 innings. It was another delivery that was short and he got stuck on the back foot.
In the morning session, pacer Jasprit Bumrah (5/24) completed his eighth five-wicket haul and for the first time at home, India slammed Sri Lanka’s lower order in a jiffy.
(with agency input)
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