The International Cricket Council (ICC) has allowed Sri Lankan skipper Dinesh Chandimal to use an inhaler during the ongoing 2nd Test between India and Sri Lanka at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo. Chandimal was forced to miss the opening Test at Galle due to pneumonia which the hosts lost by a big margin of 304 runs.
Keeping in mind about Chandimal’s health, the ICC had allowed the Sri Lankan skipper to use an inhaler to breathe easy. However, we must know the fact that there are certain inhalers which are being banned by the sporting authorities.
“I am much better. Thanks to the ICC they gave permission for me to use the inhaler, and that will help me breathe properly. Rangana is also fit to play,” Chandimal was quoted as saying by Sport 24.
Sri Lankan stand-in-skipper for the opening Test Rangana Herath was also a doubtful starter for the 2nd Test after sustaining a finger injury during the opening Test which forced him to miss batting during Sri Lanka’s 2nd innings. We also saw the 31-year-old veteran bowler from the domestic circuit, Malinda Pushpakumara making his debut but he was hardly effective and went for runs on the opening day of the 2nd Test.
After a brilliant opening session for India, the visitors made staged an impressive fight back by removing KL Rahul and captain Virat Kohli in quick succession but failed to make use of the advantage and went on to concede 344 runs in the 1st day at the loss of just three wickets.
Cheteshwar Pujara continued his dream run in Sri Lanka and notched up his 3rd century in the island nation in as many matches. He looked resolute in the crease and stepped down to the Sri Lankan spinners on a consistent basis after settling down. Meanwhile, Ajinkya Rahane also played a terrific counter attacking innings and remained unbeaten on 103 by the end of day one.
On next morning, Sri Lankan bowlers were able to remove the two well-settled batsmen, as Pujara was the first one to be dismissed for 133 while Rahane was stumped on 132.