The Hindu is currently running a very interesting story about an amazing bowling performance by Ishant Sharma in the ongoing 3 day game in Colombo. Toda, during the second day, Sri Lanka’s President XI top-order had no way to deal with Ishant Sharma’s pace and swing on a humid day. A devoted Ishant Sharma spread terror on Friday in the Sri Lanka Board President’s XI camp after the Indian-medium pacer bagged five wickets to reduce the hosts to 35 for five at lunch on Day 2 of the three-day tour game in Colombo. As detailed in the story, Chasing the Indians first innings score of 351, the President XI top-order had no answers to Ishant’s (5-5) pace and swing on a humid day as the lanky bowler, who shared the new ball with Bhuvneshwar Kumar (0-5), struck twice in his very first over.
He removed both the openers, Dhananjaya de Silva and Kaushal Silva, for a duck. A determined Ishant kept up the good work by picking Upul Tharanga (0) in his next over and then got Lahiru Thiramanne (5) and Kusal Perera (0) on consecutive deliveries in his fourth over to be on a hat-trick. The score read 10 for five.
As expected, earlier in the day, starting on their overnight score of 314 for six, the Virat Kohli-led Indians managed to post 351 all out with Ajinkya Rahane top-scoring with 109 retired out. For Sri Lanka medium-pacer Kasun Rajitha bagged two more wickets this morning to return with impressive figures of 5-68.Continuing from the overnight, batsman Ravichandran Ashwin stuck around for his 23-run stay before being scalped by Rajitha, and Harbhajan Singh (15) and Amit Mishra (0) followed him soon after. Whatever the outcome might be, the comeback staged by Ishant Sharma will prove to be a big game changer in this tour.
Let us hope that Ishant will continue to spread his magic henceforth for Team India.
Scoreboard Indians 1st innings:
Lokesh Rahul c Gunathilaka b Nisala Gamage 43;
Shikhar Dhawan c Perera b Rajitha 62;
Rohit Sharma b Rajitha 7;
Virat Kohli c Siriwardana b Rajitha 8;
Ajinkya Rahane retired out 109;
Cheteshwar Pujara c Pathirana b Vandersay 42;
Wriddhiman Saha c Thirimanne b Vandersay 3;
Ravichandran Ashwin c Tharanga b Rajitha 23;
Harbhajan Singh b PLS Gamage 15;
Amit Mishra c Thirimanne b Rajitha 0;
Bhuvneshwar Kumar not out 9.
Extras (b 7, lb 10, w 4, nb 9) 30 Total (all out; 88.1 overs 351) (3.98 runs per over) Fall of wickets 1-108, 2-121, 3-130, 4-133, 5-267, 6-273, 7-314, 8-331, 9-331, 10-351
Bowling:
Vishwa Fernando 19-2-45-0,
Nisala Gamage 15-2-65-1,
Kasun Rajitha 17-2-68-5,
Jeffrey Vandersay 20-1-76-2,
Lahiru Gamage 13.1-2-66-1,
Milinda Siriwardana 4-2-14-0
Sri Lanka Board President’s XI 1st innings
R Dhananjaya de Silva b I Sharma 0;
Kaushal Silva lbw b I Sharma 0;
Lahiru Thirimanne* c Rahul b I Sharma 5;
Upul Tharanga lbw b I Sharma 0;
Milinda Siriwardana not out 23;
Kusal Perera b I Sharma 0;
Shehan Jayasuriya not out 7.
Extras 0 Total (5 wickets; 14 overs) 35 (2.50 runs per over) Fall of wickets 1-0, 2-1, 3-1, 4-10, 5-10
Bowling:
Bhuvneshwar Kumar 4-3-5-0,
Ishant Sharma 4-1-5-5,
Umesh Yadav 2-0-9-0,
Varun Aaron 2-0-8-0,
Ravichandran Ashwin 1-0-4-0,
Harbhajan Singh 1-0-4-0.
