India proved why they are the current no. 1 ranked Test team in the world when they fought back strongly from a hopeless position on the first four days to nearly pull off a sensational win in the first Test against Sri Lanka that ended in a nail-biting draw at Eden Gardens, Kolkata on Monday.
It is seldom that one sees Sri Lanka take a first innings lead over India in a Test played on Indian soil – they had done it only once before in a rain-hit first Test at Chennai in 2005 when Sri Lanka scored 168-4 after dismissing India for 167 - and 122 looked quite a handy one when India in their second innings slumped from 166 for no loss to 281-7, an overall lead of only 159 and looked in danger of having fight on their hands to save the Test.
But as it turned out Virat Kohli played a captain’s knock of 104 not out to steer his team through stormy seas and threw the challenge back at Sri Lanka by declaring at 352-8. It left Sri Lanka with a tricky period of 30 overs to survive or chase down 231 for their maiden Test win in India.
In the 26.3 overs that was possible before bad light ended the match it was Sri Lanka who were battling to save the Test at 75/7. By reducing Sri Lanka to such a moderate second innings score, India who had been on the back foot throughout the first three and half days of play would have gained their composure back for the rest of the series.
As for Sri Lanka they made use of a good toss and the conditions well to put India under the skids to bowl them out for their second lowest total 172 against them in India. It was no surprise to see the seamers from both sides dominating the match in seamer-friendly conditions and on a pitch with grass described by Sri Lanka head coach Nic Pothas as “more English than subcontinent”.
What Suranga Lakmal, Lahiru Gamage and Dasun Shanaka did for Sri Lanka with the new ball the Indian trio of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammad Shami and Umesh Yadav matched to perfection that resulted in a rare occasion where for the first time in India the home team spinners didn’t pick a single wicket in a Test.
From Sri Lanka’s point of view it was a far better display than they put up in the Test series against India at home some three months back when they were routed in all three Tests inside four days. If not for the bad weather and light that clipped off several hours of play over the five days there might have been a repetition of that.
Sri Lanka cannot be too happy with their batting for had it not been for their bowlers Rangana Herath and Suranga Lakmal they would never have got to a total of 294 after being 201-7.
The top order has to fire and like former captain Angelo Mathews pointed out getting to fifties wouldn’t help you win a Test match. Mathews and Lahiru Thirimanne both scored fifties but failed to convert them into big ones and extend them into match winning proportions.
Mathews batting at no. 4 is a good move, he is the most experienced of the batters and that position gives him the opportunity to play a big innings for his team and for the others to bat around him. The key to Sri Lanka’s batting is Dimuth Karunaratne and Mathews. Karunaratne has the ability to play long innings and hold up one end so that the others can play freely and contribute to the total as they did in the two-Test series against Pakistan.
However one area that Sri Lanka needs to address is their second innings. Even in the Pakistan series although they managed to win both Tests their second innings was suspect being dismissed for 138 in the first Test and 96 in the second. Here again at Kolkata they were reeling at 75/7.Batting under pressure is something that the Lankan batsmen are not quite accustomed to.
That comes with experience and the Lankan batting line up does not have that with the exception of Mathews. Although they displayed some of it against Pakistan if was only in the first innings.
The second innings batting was quite a different story. The next two Tests in the series are not going to be easy as India is certainly going to come back at them with all guns blazing. Sri Lanka had better watch out.
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