Bumrah, Shami sizzle under lights

Mohammed Rumman Khan | NT

Bengaluru: Garden City was all set to usher in Pink-Ball Test with its customary enthusiasm, as fans came in large numbers to the venue on Day 1. Only, no one had gambled for a wicket that would scalp 16 batters. A Test match was being played at the Chinnaswamy stadium after three long years. It took a scintillating knock from Shreyas Iyer who scored 92 from 98 deliveries with the help of 10 fours and four sixes, which helped India post a decent 252 in their first innings, for something the fans could cheer over. Sloppy fielding by Sri Lankans as they dropped Iyer on a couple of occasions proved costly.

The bright afternoon sun did not allow the pink ball to swing enough and trouble the batters but the early and sharp turn on offer made life difficult for the Indians, who were tottering at 126 for five at one stage.

Apart from Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant was also the darling of the crowd as he took the short-format approach but it didn’t pay off. He didn’t last long as Embuldeniya bowled him for a 26-ball 39.

Virat, who is chasing an elusive Test hundred for more than two years now, was all set and looking in superb touch before he was undone by a Dhananjaya de Silva delivery that kept low and trapped him plumb in front when he tried to play off the back foot.

Kohli was driving and cutting the ball with confidence and worked hard for his watchful 23 runs and stood rooted at the wicket in disbelief for the ball had barely risen a few inches from the pitch to strike him low on the pads.

Iyer missed out on what would have been a deserving second Test hundred as he was stumped off left-arm spinner Praveen Jayawickrama (3/81) while going for a big shot, running out of partners as he was.

Later, the pink ball was expected to assist the fast bowlers in comparatively cooler floodlit conditions and it did. Not that the lethal India pace duo of Jasprit Bumrah (3/15) and Mohammed Shami (2/18) who blew away the top-order depend too much on the wicket.

Shami’s dismissal of rival captain Dimuth Karunaratne (4) was a treat to watch as the ball came in sharply to shatter timber. Sri Lanka ended the day at 86 for six, trailing by 166 runs, as 16 wickets fell on the opening day with nine of them taken by spinners.

Old warhorse Angelo Mathews (43 off 85 balls) and Charith Asalanka (5) had a 22-run stand for the fifth wicket but it did not last long with Axar Patel getting rid of the left-hander.

Mathews’ combative knock ended when he fished outside off stump and edged one from Bumrah to Rohit in the second slip.

The sharp turn that Sri Lankan bowlers derived off the pitch coupled with unpredictable bounce reminded the crowd of the Ahmedabad pink-ball game, where Indian spinners ruled the roost to win the game inside two days.

World cricket is yet to see a pink-ball game, out of 18 played so far, lasting the full distance. Games under floodlights, as of now, are being dominated by bowlers and they aren’t complaining. With not a tinge of green on the track, India expectedly opted to bat even as Rohit, who looked fluent, and Mayank Agarwal (4) could not utilise the opportunity to score big. Exploiting the conditions to the maximum, the visiting bowlers, especially left-arm spinner Lasith Embuldeniya (3/94) kept the Indian batters guessing and close to 25,000 fans on tenterhooks. Sri Lanka’s spinners failed entirely to capitalise on the help they were getting, bowling too full or too short and allowing India to score at more than four runs an over on a pitch where they had no business doing so.

Scorecard:

INDIA 1ST INNINGS:
Mayank run out (Jayawickrama/†Dickwella) 4
Rohit Sharma c de Silva b Embuldeniya 15
Hanuma Vihari c †Dickwella b Jayawickrama 31
Virat Kohli lbw b de Silva 23
Rishabh Pant b Embuldeniya 39
Shreyas Iyer st †Dickwella b Jayawickrama 92
Ravindra Jadeja c Thirimanne b Embuldeniya 4
Ashwin c †Dickwella b de Silva 13
Axar Patel b Lakmal 9
Shami c de Silva b Jayawickrama 5
Jasprit Bumrah not out 0
Extras: (b 7, lb 8, nb 2) 17 Total: (59.1 Ov, RR: