• Home
  • Cricket News
  • Ind Vs Sl 16 Wickets Fall On Day 1 On A Telling Opener In 2Nd Test At Bangalore

IND vs SL | 16 wickets fall on Day 1 on a telling opener in 2nd Test at Bangalore

The Bangalore crowd were welcomed with 16 wickets in the return of Test cricket to Bangalore on Day 1 of the second Test match of Sri Lanka’s tour to India.

In an unceremonious first day of second Test, India maintained control owing to their bowling department and more importantly Shreyas Iyer who saw India through a tough day in Bangalore. 

After choosing to bat first, India were served up a rude reality with the pitching behaving inconsistently after the 10 over mark. It’s not like India did exceptionally well before that though. A bizarre incident started off their day in the most unlikely of fashions. Mayank Agarwal, was caught plumb in front of the wickets but the decision did not go towards Sri Lanka’s way despite appealing with all their heart. To add insult to injury on their vociferous appeal, the delivery was called a no ball. 

And then came the most bizzare of incidents that we have seen in Test cricket. 

Mayank ran forward after the ball hit him while the umpire gave him a not out; an attempt at short cover was always going to be difficult and the reluctance from Rohit Sharma at the non strikers’ end did not help. Mayank was past halfway when Rohit Sharma decided to call a stern no, and the recently crowned Punjab Kings captain was left nowhere to go.

Mayank fell to a simple runout and that marked the end of the Indian partnership in the very second over.

India did not falter right away after Mayank’s wicket, but the introduction of spin mixed with the horrific nature of the wicket led to one more wicket in the next 10 overs. Rohit Sharma edged a ball back to the slip cordon and marked the end of the Indian captain. Virat Kohli started a good partnership with number three Hanuma Vihari but both were undone by the inconsistency with the bounce in the wicket. While Hanuma got undone by extra bounce on a turning delivery and ended up inducing an edge to the slip while Virat Kohli got caught plumb in front against a delivery that kept very very low.

Understanding that there was no way to survive this wicket if one were to defend through the game, new batting pair in the middle Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer took the attack to the opposition and served up a huge challenge ahead of the them - either get us out or lose the game in the first innings itself.

At that moment, Sri Lanka and the fans watching the game knew that to chase anything above 180-200 was going to be tough on this wicket. They were successful in their attempt to remove Rishabh for 39 off 26, but Shreyas Iyer was different gravy on the day.

Not only did he took India to a safe score of 252, his 92 off 98 balls was so dominating that Sri Lanka looked at a loss of ideas despite the ball starting to turn square from session 2. Iyer was the last wicket to fall on the day against a Jayawickrama square turner from over the wicket that ended up stumping him.

He deserved a century, but his 92 was no less than a storm that virtually took Sri Lanka out of the game. Studded with four sixes and 10 boundaries, the innings looked more like a T20 outing rather than a Test one.

Coming into bowl, India did not need there spinners, given the pace duo of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Shami breathed fire under the lights. With the ball doing much more in the final session than it did in the afternoon, Bumrah swung it both ways to dismiss Kusal Mendis and Lahiru Thirimanne inside the first 5 overs, while Shami ripped into captain Dimuth Karunaratne. 

With the top order cleaned up, Sri Lanka were in deep trouble even before the spin attack came in, and eventually ended up losing 6 wickets at the end of day’s play.

Only veteran Angelo Mathews (42 off 85) was able to score some runs, but the rest of them failed miserably to put Sri Lanka into a stutter of 86/6 at the end of 30 overs.

A total of 16 wickets fell on the day, definitely not a good advertisement for Test cricket with batsmen finding it difficult to judge as to what the pitch would do from which spot. Nobody looked assured, and if things go the same way, nobody will in the course of this Test match. All things point to a two and a half day finish, with India as the overwhelming favourites to win the encounter.

Discover more
Top Stories
news

ICC Women’s World Cup 2022 | India make ruthless comeback with complete performance

Indian women’s team made a stellar turnaround in the ICC Women’s World Cup after burying West Indies by 155 runs on Saturday, 12 March. India were thoroughly dominant for the most part of the game, first dominating with the bat owing to twin centuries from Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur and then later coming back to defend their target. They put on 317 runs in the first innings, the highest against West Indies in the World Cup, and made sure that it would be very difficult for the chasing side to try and bring down the total. Coming to defend, things did not go as planned for the Indian team after the Windies opening pair attacked their way out of trouble in the early phase of the game. Deandra Dottin and Hayley Matthews took attack to the opposition putting up 100 runs in a very quick time. Dottin and Mathews were very good in their approach against both spin and pace and attacked both forms of bowling with disdain. They used their crease to perfection and attacked the spin bowlers to establish their domination on the crease. Dottin in particular stepped out of the crease and made a strong statement against the Indians that they had come to chase the target down. Windies did very well in the first 10 overs, but it could have only lasted for so long considering the record chase that they had to make. The collapse did come, in the 13th over of the game. Dottin, trying to sweep Sneh Rana, lobbed up a ball and it got caught safely by Meghana Singh. Dottin looked visibly pissed off by the whole ordeal and walked off shaking her head in disdain. Dottin’s wicket brought belief back in India after they were thrown around in the defence for the first 10 overs and they could finally apply the pressure that they needed to in the game. Once they got the breakthrough in the 13th over, India could actually put their mind back to the game. They did not waste the opportunity and struck back with six wickets in the next 50 runs to completely dismantle the Windies innings. Scoreboard pressure could not even come to play in the game as Windies lost wickets in a bunch and failed to score two-digit scores in six out of the remaining eight batters in the squad. Submitting to the Sneh Rana and Rajeshwari Gaikwad. Their innings stretched on till the 41st over, but they could only score 162 runs before getting bundled out. Earlier in the day, Indian changed their entire template and attacked from the word go, with Yastika Bhatitya setting the stage on fire. She scored 31 off 21 balls, setting the stage up for what could come later in the day. But in the wildest dreams of the Indian fans, one could not have dreamt on the partnership that came forth from two out of form batters in Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana. Kaur at least showed signs of returning into form, late in her lst innings, blasting her way through 71 off 63 balls. But Smriti’s accumulation of runs brought a breath of fresh air in Indian fans who now could certainly believe that they have two set batters in the three tight games that they would be playing in the World Cup. While Smriti scored a stunning 123 off 119 balls, Harmanpreet made 109 off 1o7 and steered India to a huge total. The put India a position where they would not have lost the game and made sure that the women in Blue had a good footing in the World Cup. Going into the tournament, India have tight competition in the next three games against England, Australia and South Africa, who are vying for the top four spots. However this game would help India in the NRR going into the tournament and provide them with big confidence in the remainder of the tournament.

news

‘Can do better if someone gives me that confidence’ : Sarfaraz Khan ahead of IPL 2022

With the IPL just a few days away, the fans and players are eagerly looking forward to the tournament. Delhi Capitals' new recruit Sarfaraz Khan is no different. The Delhi franchise picked up the 24-year-old at his base price of INR 20 lakh. He would be looking to make an impact this season and establish his position in the Delhi team. Sarfaraz Khan has been in brilliant form for Mumbai in red-ball cricket. Since his return to Mumbai from Uttar Pradesh, Sarfaraz has played nine games and has scored a total of 1479 runs at a mind-boggling average of 147.90. In addition, he has scored five centuries, including a triple hundred. "I can do better if someone gives me that confidence and has faith in me. It is the same when no one thought I could play red ball, but I knew I could if I got the opportunity, because I had been working for four-five years on my red-ball game. Similarly, the day will come when I will score in the IPL too," Sarfaraz told Indian Express. Coming to the Delhi Capitals side, they have built a superb team in the auction. The signing of David Warner made the fans happy. They would hope that Warner could recreate his magic and help Delhi win their first title. While the top four seems to be sorted, there are multiple slots available in the middle order. Sarfaraz Khan would be looking to make that spot his own in a quest to improve his IPL record. Sarfaraz has scored 441 runs in 40 games in the IPL at a modest average of 23.21. These are abysmal stats for someone with as much talent as him. IPL 2022 is scheduled to commence on March 26 with a match between the Chennai Super Kings and the Kolkata Knight Riders. Delhi will be playing their first match against Mumbai Indians on March 27.

news

IND vs SL | 2nd Test | Day 1 - Shreyas Iyer saves India on an awful pitch

Shreyas Iyer’s exceptional 92 off 98 balls saved India on Day 1 of the Bengaluru Test match as Virat Kohli’s return to his IPL home ground turned out to be a nightmare for the batters. A rank turner troubled the Indian batters from the very first overs of the game, and Indian batters succumbed to the oddities of the pitch throughout the first innings of the game. It was only Shreyas Iyer who was able to to pass the 50-run mark, scoring an attacking 92 runs before falling as the last wicket, late in the second session of the day. Barring Iyer, Rishabh Pant looked very well for his 39 off 26 after the batters realised 20 overs into the innings, that there was no way of surviving on a pitch that was turning square from the very first session of the game. Former captain Virat Kohli, was playing a brisk innings, but a length ball from Dhananjaya de Silva kept low and undid his 23-run innings in 48 balls. The pitch came under massive scrutiny on social media for its inconsistent bounce. Players like Kohli were done in by the lack of bounce in the innings, while Ravindra Jadeja and Hanuma Vihari fell against the ball that shot up from the spot. Whatever the case, the pitch could not take away the spotlight from Shreyas Iyer who stunned Sri Lanka - who were thinking to wrap India up within 170-180 runs. However, their plans were undone by the sharp feet of Iyer, who used them to perfection to bring India back on track, after they were down by four for just 86 runs. Going into the game, Sri Lanka will have a steep task ahead of them chasing 252 runs in the first innings against the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel, who would surely be wanting to have a shy at the SL batters in their home conditions.