Team India consolidated their position of strength in the opening Test at Galle and ended proceedings on Day 2 by reducing Sri Lanka to 154/5 in 44 overs after scoring a mammoth 600 in their 1st innings. Nuwan Pradeep continued his good work and finished with 6 wickets while the other bowlers were smashed for quite a few runs towards the later part of the innings especially by Hardik Pandya.
Later on, the Indian bowlers were on the mark and bagged 5 Sri Lankan wickets barring Upul Tharanga and Angelo Mathews, no one got going and surrendered meekly against an experienced Indian bowling attack. So with the 2nd day of the opening Test out of the way let us have a look at 5 Talking Points from the match
1. Hardik Pandya dazzles on debut
All-rounder Hardik Pandya came out in the middle to place India comfortably on 491/6. There was no pressure on Hardik what so ever and after defending a few deliveries, Hardik started taking the aerial route and smashing the Sri Lankan bowlers all around the park. It was brutal hitting on the show yet again after the right-hander’s heroics in the Champions Trophy final.
He smashed both the pacers and the spinners with disdain and made light work of the inexperienced bowling attack. His innings ended on 50, an innings which was decorated with 5 fours and 3 hits over the fence. Panyda’s 3 sixes are also the most hit by a batsman on Test debut.
2. Nuwan Pradeep continues his good work from Day 1
Pradeep who already bagged 3 wickets on Day 1 came back strongly and Day 2 and ended with impressive figures of 6/132. He was the only bowler who consistently troubled the Indian batsmen with his pace and swing. He first dismissed Cheteshwar Pujara after he completed 150 and then prized out Ravichandran Ashwin with another full-length delivery.
The best of the lot was that of Ravindra Jadeja’s as the southpaw was castled by a well directed Yorker. He was beaten for sheer pace and the ball went on to crash the stumps.
3. Mohammed Shami’s all-round show
Shami first scored 30 valuable runs in the 1st innings to take India past the 600 mark. It was a run a ball innings which contained 3 hits over the fence. It was clean hitting by the fierce fast bowler who was eventually dismissed by Lahiru Kumara.
With the ball in hand, Shami leaked a few runs in his first spell but returned splendidly in his 2nd spell and bagged the wickets of Danushka Gunathilaka and Kusal Mendis in the same over. Gunathilaka edged a short of length delivery outside the off stump straight to Shikhar Dhawan at slips while Kusal Mendis received a gem of a delivery up front which he edged straight to the slip cordon and for the 2nd time, Shikhar Dhawan completed a straight forward catch.
4. Upul Tharanga run-out
It was the final delivery of the 34th over bowled by Ashwin. Tharanga stepped down the crease and defended the ball. It went straight to the silly point fielder Abhinav Mukund and he gave it back to the keeper within a whisker.
The southpaw had reached his crease by then and players from both teams felt it was not out and was about to go on with the game when the umpire ruled it in favour of the visitors. Despite Tharanga crossing the line, replays showed that the bat went up in the air when Wriddhiman Saha dislodged the stumps. But as per the new rules which will be applied from October, no batsman will be given run out if his bat goes up in the air after crossing the line.
5. Ravichandran Ashwin has a good day in the office
Ashwin contributed with some crucial runs lower down the order and was dismissed on 47 which included 7 beautifully struck boundaries. It was pure timing by the all-rounder as he looked well set for yet another half-century when Nuwan Pradeep induced an edge from his blade which was safely taken by Niroshan Dickwella behind the stumps.
He bowled brilliantly in his 1st spell and defeated the batsmen on a number of occasions. It was a brilliant piece of bowling by the offie but he was unable to get his maiden breakthrough. He finally dismissed Niroshan Dickwella during the fag end of the day and returned with figures of 1/49 from 18 overs.