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With 5/41.
Day 2 Recap
Ravindra Jadeja paid a fitting tribute to one of his early mentors, Shane Warne, with an unbeaten 175 as India took full command of the opening Test against Sri Lanka with a mammoth first innings total of 574/8 declared on the second day in Mohali.
Jadeja or the Indian team management did not feel that the all-rounder needed to score a double century as the hosts declared their innings after Sri Lanka were taken out of the game.
In the final session, Ravichandran Ashwin (61, 2/21) from 82 balls warmed up well with his 12th half-century, removing Lahiru Thirimanne and Dhananjay de Silva to surpass Sir Richard Hadlee’s 431 victims.
Jadeja (1/30) later completed his century once again by trapping Sri Lanka’s best player and captain Dimuth Karunaratne (28) leg before.
Jasprit Bumrah (1/20) dismissed Angelo Mathews to leave him for 4 for 108 as the end of day three looked imminent. Sri Lanka still need 267 runs to avoid follow-on.
Jadeja’s career-best innings, his second century in Test cricket, came less than 24 hours after the cricket world tried to come to terms with Warne’s tragic end.
It was Warne who first realized Jadeja’s untapped batting potential during Rajasthan Royals’ 2008 Indian Premier League campaign, where his late hitting earned him the nickname ‘Rockstar’ from his mentor-captain.
Jadeja, over the years, has been one of the essential all-format players for India in Test cricket and for his batting abilities that make him a better package than Ashwin in overseas conditions.
On that day, he was at his best as India scored 217 runs in two sessions due to his attacking batting.
It helped that Sri Lankan pacer Lahiru Kumara became unwell due to a hamstring injury. He failed to complete his 11th over and his reliance on inexperienced Lasith Embuldeniya (46-3-188-2) also hurt his cause.
Jadeja batted for a total of five and a half hours, faced 228 balls and by the time he returned to the pavilion, he had hit 17 fours and three sixes.
Sri Lanka basically nailed the unbroken ninth wicket partnership of 130 runs for the seventh wicket with Ashwin and an unbroken ninth wicket partnership of 103 with Mohammed Shami (20 not out).
However, Karunaratne’s captaincy and his fielding left much to be desired as not for once over the course of two days, does it look like the islanders want to compete.
It was a very defensive game and the gap between India and Sri Lanka was evident as both the teams approached the match.
Jadeja and Ashwin made India active, while they were not reactive despite the fierce response from Sri Lanka.
Bowling Jadeja with deep mid-wicket, long-off/on, deep extra cover and deep fine leg to prevent boundaries was a negative approach and it didn’t really matter much.
The 58 fours and seven sixes hit during the innings tell a story.
Barring experienced seamer Suranga Lakmal (2/90), no other bowler put it in the right areas. The hips were tucked well enough to hit the fielder at the mid-wicket boundary and a half-volley was sent from the right side of mid-off.
The short balls were pulled quite well and when it was tossed, he tossed it straight into the stands.
In between, he refuses a singles to save Shami from the strike. The customary sword festival at 50, 100 and 150 drew applause from the crowd.
Such was the plight of the Sri Lankan fielders that Ambuldeniya could not even pick up the ball and bowl it to keeper Niroshan Dickwella when Mohammed Shami literally came to the non-striker’s end.
Dickwella was furious and told the bowler about his disappointment.
In general, Sri Lankans have never looked competitive, with India scoring 4.43 runs per over in 129.2 overs.
Often an unequal competition between bat and ball becomes extremely boring and the first two days of this Test match will once again spark a debate as to whether the time has come for the ICC to consider a two-tier Test system to make it more efficient. to be made attractive. Fans.
The blatant dedication by any international team is bad advertising for Test cricket and even more so the reluctant bunch, which Karunaratne’s people are currently watching.
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