Pant fireworks light up Namma City

Mohammed Rumman Khan | NT

Bengaluru: With the much-talked about Pink-Ball Test match heading in one direction bringing with it monotony crowds detest, Rishabh Pant stepped in to post a record-breaking half-century. It was Pant’s blitzkrieg that forced Sri Lanka into complete submission. There was never a dull moment when he was at the crease. He cut, pulled, swept, reverse swept, drove, charged down the wicket at will and raised his fifty. The wicket-keeper’s 31-ball 50 and Iyer’s 67-run knock after useful contribution from the top-order batters meant that India set Sri Lanka a mammoth 447-run target after declaring their second innings at 303 for nine.

Another three-day finish is on the cards, and the M Chinnaswamy pitch has become a hot topic in cricketing circles with many saying it has failed the PinkBall Test and Test cricket in general.

On Day 2, Sri Lanka resumed at 86 for six and Indian bolwers took just 25 minutes to bundle out the islanders for 109. Bumrah and off-spinner R Ashwin (2/30) scalped two batters each as Sri Lanka’s shoddy display continued. Jasprit Bumrah picked up his maiden five-wicket haul on home soil. The struggling visitors will need no less than a miraculous batting performance to save the match after ending the second day at 28 for one. Skipper Dimuth Karunaratne and Kusal Mendis will resume the Sri Lankan chase on Monday.

Sri Lanka players’ shoulders were slouched when they came in for the second innings. They bowled badly in the first hour, feeding juicy half-volleys for Rohit Sharma and Mayank Agarwal to settle down on the uncertain pitch.

Skipper Rohit was careful in his shot selection before lofting off-spinner Dhananjaya de Silva straight to Angelo Mathews when on 46. Till then, his footwork looked good, and he largely swept left-arm spinners and charged down the wicket to smother the off-spin of De Silva. He also played the out-of his-book shot, a reverse-sweep. He connected well the first time around and got a boundary. It was a rare event: only the eighth time that he has played that shot in his entire international cricket. He followed it with another attempt at the very next ball but didn’t connect well. He would have got out much earlier, but stayed on thanks to Sri Lanka’s sloppy fielding. He was dropped on a couple of occasions.

Yet again Mayank Agarwal lost another huge opportunity to seal his place. He is sure to be cursing himself as he couldn’t perform on his local ground.

Hanuma Vihari (35) looked comfortable at the number three slot, but couldn’t convert the steady start into a long one. After tactfully laying the foundation, he may have felt gutted for not taking his career a notch or two higher.

VIRAT, THE ‘LOCAL’ LAD, KEEPS CROWD ENTERTAINED
On a dry wicket like the one here, and Sri Lanka struggling like they did, the outcome of the game is anybody’s guess. With the match hitting a dull phase, Virat Kohli it was who brought cheer to the spectators.

The no-rivalry non-contest needed someone like Virat to light up the proceedings, and he did it with aplomb. The near-capacity crowd cheered in unison when the ‘local’ lad walked up to the crease after Rohit Sharma fell. They cheered every run of the Delhite like he was moving from 99 to a century.

The decibel levels increased tenfold when he was at strike. He too was eager to perform in front of his fans, but that wasn’t to be as he was undone by a Jayawickrama delivery that kept low and he was trapped in front. Kohli’s search for that elusive 71st ton just got longer. Spectators entertained themselves by cheering for RCB as there was not much contest in the Test. Uncertainty of the outcome is what adds to the interest, but everyone in the stands knew which way this Test was going, so they were looking at other entertainers.

Scorecard

SRI LANKA 1ST INNINGS:
Dickwella † c †Pant b Bumrah 21
Embuldeniya c †Pant b Bumrah 1
Suranga Lakmal b Ashwin 5
Praveen Jayawickrama not out 1
Vishwa Fernando st †Pant b Ashwin 8
Extras: (b 1) 1 Total: (35.5 Ov, RR: 3.04) 109 Fall of Wickets: 1-2, 2-14, 3-14, 4-28, 5-50, 6-85, 7-95, 8-100, 9-100, 10-109.
Bumrah 10-4-24-5, Ashwin 8.5-1-30-2, Shami 6-1-18-2, Jadeja 6-1-15-0, Axar Patel 5-1-21-1
 

INDIA 1ST INNINGS:
Mayank c de Silva b Embuldeniya 22
Rohit Sharma c Mathews b de Silva 46
Hanuma Vihari b Jayawickrama 35
Virat Kohli lbw b Jayawickrama 13
Rishabh Pant c & b Jayawickrama 50
Shreyas Iyer lbw b Embuldeniya 67
Ravindra Jadeja b Fernando 22
Ashwin c †Dickwella b Jayawickrama 13
Axar Patel b Embuldeniya 9
Mohammed Shami not ou