‘Rockstar Ravindra’ puts India in the box seat

Ravindra Jadeja paid a fitting tribute to one of his earliest mentors Shane Warne with a majestic 175 not out as India took complete command of the opening Test against Sri Lanka with a mammoth first innings total of 574/8 declared on the second day in Mohali. As Ravindra Jadeja brought up his second Test century, the on-air commentary made a mention of the ‘rockstar’ nickname given to him by legendary leg-spin great Shane Warne during the inaugural edition of the IPL in 2008.

Jadeja or the Indian team management didn’t feel that the all-rounder needed to go for a double hundred as hosts declared their innings after quite literally batting Sri Lanka out of the game.

In the final session, Ravichandran Ashwin (61 off 82 balls, 2/21), having nicely warmed up with his 12th half-century, removed Lahiru Thirimanne and Dhananjaya De Silva to go past Sir Richard Hadlee’s 431 victims.

Jadeja (1/30) later celebrated his hundred once again by trapping Sri Lanka’s best player and skipper Dimuth Karunaratne (28) leg before.

Jasprit Bumrah (1/20) d i s p o s e d o f f A n g e l o Mathews to leave them tottering at 108 for 4 as a threeday finish looked imminent. Sri Lanka still needs 267 runs to avoid follow-on.

It was Warne, who first realised Jadeja’s untapped batting potential during Rajasthan Royals’ 2008 Indian Premier League campaign, where it was his late hitting that earned him the ‘Rockstar’ moniker from his mentor-captain.

Jadeja, over the years, has been one of the indispensable all-format players for India in Test cricket and more so for his batting abilities that make him a better package than Ashwin in overseas conditions.

On the day, he was at his imperious best as India scored 217 runs in two sessions because of his attacking batting.

It did help that Sri Lanka were a pacer short with their fastest bowler Lahiru Kumara left indisposed due to a hamstring injury. He failed to complete his 11th over and over dependence on inexperienced Lasith Embuldeniya (46-3-188-2) also harmed their cause. Jadeja, in all, batted for five and half hours, faced 228 balls and by the time he walked back to the pavilion, he had hit 17 fours and three sixes.

A partnership of 130 with Ashwin for the seventh wicket and another 103 runs with Mohammed Shami (20 not out) for the unbroken ninth wicket basically nailed Sri Lanka.

However, Karunaratne’s captaincy and his field placings left a lot to be desired as not for once during the course of the two days, did it look that the islanders want to compete.

Bowling to Jadeja with a deep mid-wicket, longoff/on, deep extra cover and deep fine leg with an aim to stop the boundaries was a negative approach and it didn’t really make much of a difference.

The 58 boundaries and seven sixes conceded during the course of the innings tells a story.Often an uneven contest between bat and ball becomes extremely boring and the first two days of this Test match once again would raise a debate whether it’s about time for the ICC to mull on having a two-tier Test system to make it more appealing for the fans.

Abject surrender by any international team is a bad advertisement for Test cricket and even more so a reluctant bunch, which Karunaratne’s men are currently looking like.

Scorecard:

INDIA 1ST INNINGS
M.Agarwal lbw b Embuldeniya 33
R.Sharma (c) c Lakmal b Kumara
H.Vihari b Fernando 58
V.Kohli b Embuldeniya 45
R.Pant † b Lakmal 96
S.Iyer lbw b de Silva 27
R.Jadeja not out 175
R.Ashwin c †Dickwella b Lakmal 61
J.Yadav c Thirimanne b Fernando 2
M.Shami not out 20
Extras: (b 4, lb 12, nb 12) 28
TOTAL: (129.2 Ov, RR: 4.43) 574/8d
Fall of wickets: 1-52, 2-80, 3-170, 4-175, 5-228, 6-332, 7-462, 8-471

Lakmal 25-1-90-2; V.Fernando 26-1-135-2; L.Kumara 10.5-1-52-1; L.Embuldeniya 46-3-188-2; DD Silva 18.2-1-79-1; C.Asalanka 3.1-0-14-0.


SRI LANKA 1ST INNINGS
D.Karunaratne (c) lbw b Jadeja 28
L.Thirimanne lbw b Ashwin 17
P.Nissanka not out 26
A.Mathews lbw b Bumrah 22
DD Silva lbw b Ashwin 1
C.Asalanka not out 1
Extras (lb 6, nb 7) 13
TOTAL (43 Ov, RR: 2.51) 108/4
Fall of wickets: 1-48, 2-59, 3-96, 4-103

Shami 7-3-17-0; Bumrah 9-2-20-1; Ashwin 13-6-21-2; J.Yadav 5-2-14-0; Jadeja 9-3-30-1