Sri Lanka has flown in leg-spinner Jeffrey Vandersay for the final Test against Sri Lanka as a replacement for veteran left-arm spinner Rangana Herath who complained of back pain after Sri Lanka suffered a crushing defeat in the 2nd Test at the VCA Stadium in Nagpur.
Herath wasn’t required much in the opening Test at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata where the seamers bowled a majority of the overs and reaped the rewards.
The 39-year-old was required more in the Nagpur Test which was more conducive to batting than the Eden Test. It was a much flatter wicket, and Herath bowled 39 overs in the only innings India batted in the 2nd encounter. Meanwhile, it must be noted that Vandersay is yet to make his debut in the longest format of the game. However, he has donned the Sri Lanka colours in 11 ODI’s and 7 T20I’s.
Sri Lanka was thoroughly outplayed in all three departments of the game in the 2nd Test in Nagpur as India registered their joint biggest victory in Test cricket by an innings and 239 runs. On batting friendly conditions, it was the bowlers who never allowed the Sri Lankan batsmen to score big and tied them down with their accurate bowling.
Courtesy a four-wicket haul by Ravichandran Ashwin and an impressive spell by comeback man Ishant Sharma, India bowled out the visitors for a mediocre score of 205 as none of the batsmen could convert their starts into big ones. The home team responded with a colossal 1st innings total of 611 as four Indian batsmen went past the century mark.
Captain Virat Kohli continued his rich vein of form and smashed his 5th double century of his Test career while Cheteshwar Pujara, Murali Vijaya and another comeback man Rohit Sharma also chipped in with respective centuries. In the 2nd innings, it was the spin duo of Ashwin and Jadeja and the pace of Ishant which never allowed the visitors to claw their way back into the game. They were skittled out for 166 handing India a victory by an innings and 239 runs.
