All set for pink-ball Test in Garden City

Mohammed Rumman Khan | NT

Namma Bengaluru is hosting a Test for the first time since Afghanistan played their inaugural game in the city in June 2018. India will be strong favourites to stay unbeaten in pinkball Tests at home as new captain Rohit Sharma eyes a clean sweep of Sri Lanka in the second Test starting today.

The hosts thrashed Sri Lanka inside three days in Mohali to lead the twomatch series 1-0 and the visitors need to quickly get their act together under the lights in Bengaluru.

The world’s top-ranked all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja hit an unbeaten 175 and took nine wickets to stand out in Rohit’s first Test since replacing Virat Kohli as captain in all formats earlier this year.

India will be expected to beat Sri Lanka again but Ashwin warned that daynight Tests can be unpredictable. “It’s very hard to prepare for a pink-ball Test because you don’t know what to expect,” he told the website of the Board of Control for Cricket in India.

Sri Lanka should come out all guns blazing to challenge India as it is for a reason that even collective talents of Muralitharan, Sangakkara, Jayawardene and Sanath Jayasuriya never came close to a Test win here.

For both Sri Lanka and India, it will be their fourth Day-Night Test and both share similar record of two wins and a defeat each.

Will Kohli’s wait for elusive 71st-ton end at Chinnaswamy?
Chasing an elusive international hundred for 28 months now, Virat Kohli would hope for a turnaround at his ‘spiritual home’ when India take on an under-prepared Sri Lanka in the second Test, with the action unfolding under flood lights, from Saturday. Interestingly, the last time Kohli reached a threefigure mark, it was a ‘Pink Ball’ game in which India thrashed Bangladesh by an innings and 46 runs in Kolkata, back in November 2019. He had scored 136 back then.

Now he is returning to the M Chinnaswamy stadium, a venue which he knows like the back of his palm as he has led his IPL side Royal Challengers Bangalore here (RCB) for a decade. That comforting familiarity with the conditions may also help.

Team India’s combination
Since it is a pink ball contest, either a fit-again spinner allrounder Axar Patel or pacer Mohammed Siraj could replace Jayant Yadav in the playing XI because both have the ability to cause more damage in a Day/Night game. Jayant did not do anything special in Mohali. Even when the Sri Lankans were struggling, he went wicket-less in his 17 overs across the two innings. Axar in his last Pink ball Test had wreaked havoc with his under cutters in Ahmedabad against England, taking 11 wickets in that contest.

‘No set parameters required’
“As professional cricketers, we need to adjust as quickly as possible. The pink ball looks different while fielding. It comes earlier (travels faster) than what you perceive. In a Test match, ball swings more in the morning session. “But in the afternoon session, the ball may not swing much. And then in the evening, it can swing more, all these small points (are being discussed),” Bumrah said during the pre-match virtual media interaction.

No set parameters for adjustments required: Bumrah
“As professional cricketers, we need to adjust as quickly as possible. The pink ball looks different while fielding. It comes earlier (travels faster) than what you perceive. In a Test match, ball swings more in the morning session. “But in the afternoon session, the ball may not swing much. And then in the evening, it can swing more, all these small points (are being discussed),” Bumrah said during the pre-match virtual media interaction.

Sri Lanka’s struggle
Pathum Nissanka has been ruled out of the second Test because of a back injury. Dushmantha Chameera, who sat out the first Test in Mohali, is also not available for selection as he continues his recovery from an ankle injury. Their resources already not good enough to challenge the talent in the Indian squad, they will also be without pacer Lahiru Kumara, who has been ruled out due to a hamstring injury. Skipper Dimuth Karunaratne will have to lead from the front and produce something out of the ordinary to ensure that they do not meet the same fate as that in the series-opener. He had got starts in both innings but could not convert. Also, veterans like Angelo Mathews have to show a bit more stomach for fight. While the batters, at least found runs, intermittently, the Lankan bowlers cut a sorry figure. Pacer Suranga Lakmal, playing his last series, was the lone from among six bowlers, who managed an economy of under-4 runs.

Last Home Test for India in 2022
It will be the last Test m