Denied by fading daylight : The Tribune India

Join Whatsapp Channel

Denied by fading daylight

KOLKATA: Sri Lanka survived a horrible scare to secure a nervy draw on the fifth day of the first Test. The match ended in a thrilling climax in the evening gloom of an early eastern sunset. It was an unexpectedly exciting end because some 200 overs were lost in the match to rain or bad light.

Denied by fading daylight


Rohit Mahajan

Tribune News Service

Kolkata, November 20

Sri Lanka survived a horrible scare to secure a nervy draw on the fifth day of the first Test. The match ended in a thrilling climax in the evening gloom of an early eastern sunset. It was an unexpectedly exciting end because some 200 overs were lost in the match to rain or bad light.

Sri Lanka had dominated the match, but when it ended at 4.27pm due to bad light, they were 75/7 in 26.3 overs, desperately time-wasting, as any team would. Their captain, Dinesh Chandimal, stood in the pavilion, repeatedly gesticulating that it was not possible to see the ball in the declining light. It was a desperate situation, strange for a team that had taken a 122-run lead and was bossing over India just three hours earlier.

Turnaround

The match came alive today due to two factors — the strength of Virat Kohli and the frailty of Sri Lanka’s batsmen. Kohli smashed a thrilling, counterattacking 104 off 119 balls, the final 62 coming off just 42 balls. This left Lanka with the task of scoring 231 to win in 47 overs but, realistically, due to the early sunsets of eastern India, they had only some 30 overs to bat. Sri Lanka didn’t go for the chase — they couldn’t, because they were clutching at straws to avoid being washed away by Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Bhuvneshwar, the Man of the Match, was almost irresistible, making the ball move in the air and off the wicket; the Lankan batsmen were weak in technique, weaker in mind. The combination made for a fascinating final session.

Lakmal again

India started the day at 171/1, 49 runs ahead. Suranga Lakmal, India’s tormenter in the first innings, hadn’t been effective yesterday; today he was much more incisive, picking up 3/12 in five overs, and Cheteshwar Pujara (22) and Ajinkya Rahane (0) in the same over. He moved the ball in off the pitch to get KL Rahul (79), and surprised Pujara with a short ball that climbed sharply and ballooned up after touching his bat. Rahane got a terrific ball that seamed in and  pinned him in front of the wicket.

At 213/4 before the first drinks break of the day and only 91 ahead, India were being dominated; the possibility of Sri Lanka losing seemed remote, but India weren’t out of danger.  

Kohli’s charge

Then Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin fell — India 269/6, only 147 ahead with around 60 overs left, though only around 40 could have been bowled realistically. Sri Lanka took the new ball to prise out the last batsmen and then, perhaps, launch a triumphant chase for their first Test win in India.

So, what does Kohli do from this position of weakness? Well, he went into an overdrive, as if triggered by sudden anger after using DRS to overturn an LBW decision against him on 72. He smashed 32 off the next 14 balls, using his feet, skipping out to launch Lakmal for an extraordinary six over extra-cover. His strokes were precise but brutal, some of them quite Twenty20ish. His previous highest at this ground was 45, and average 14.5. He chose the right day for his first 50, and 100, at the Eden Gardens.

Feisty Niroshan

Niroshan Dickwella, the wicketkeeper, is a feisty little character, the sort you really must have in your team. He took charge after some sloppy batting — and terrific bowling —  at the top. The openers chopped the ball back to their stumps. No. 3 Lahiru Thirimanne meddled with a ball he should have left alone; Angelo Mathews was pinned in front by Umesh Yadav — 22/4 in 11.5 overs, with light good for 15-odd overs.

Skipper Dinesh Chandimal and Dickwella then built the match-saving partnership, 47 in 8.5 overs. Dickwella doesn’t simply hang around — he smashes the ball in adverse situations, has the guts to move way outside off, hit a six over backward square-leg, and then coolly inform the umpire that it was a no ball! After engaging in a debate, he’s cool enough to tell his skipper: “Relax, they’re wasting their own time!”

It becomes very dark very quickly after the sun sets here. There was some chatter among the batsmen and fielders. Hard words were said and, happily for Lanka, a few minutes expended thus.

When Chandimal (20) and Dickwella (27, with 2 sixers) fell, Lanka were 69/5 and only some four more overs possible. India got two more wickets, but that was all. Darkness and a draw prevailed.

Moral victories count for nothing, but Kohli would be happy with today’s work, his own and Bhuvneshwar’s.


Wicketless spinners 

All 17 Sri Lankan wickets were taken by India’s pace bowlers. The spinners were wicketless. Before this Test, 261 matches had been played in India, and spinners had never ever gone wicketless. Ravichandran Ashwin bowled eight overs in the match, all in the first innings. Jadeja bowled two, one in each innings. This brings to the fore the issue of the selection of two spinners for this Test. Wouldn’t a fourth seamer, or a sixth specialist batsman, been more useful on a track that was green on Day 1 and continued to help the seamers until the fifth evening? This game also represented a huge change from the previous Ravi Shastri-coached home season of 2015-16. The wickets often turned square from Day 1, for instance, when South Africa came here for four Tests towards the end of 2015. Jadeja, Ashwin and Amit Mishra picked up 61 South African wickets then, the three pacers picked up only eight. What a change!

8 Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s match figures of 8/96 are his best ever in a Test match, obliterating the 6/46 vs West Indies at Gros Islet in August 2016

17  The Indian fast bowlers took 17 wickets in this Test — the most by them in a Test match in India. Overseas, the Indian pacers have picked 18 wickets in a Test thrice 

9 Cheteshwar Pujara became the ninth batsman to bat on all five days of a Test match. He has joined ML Jaisimha, Geoff Boycott, Kim Hughes, Allan Lamb, Ravi Shastri, Adrian Griffith, Andrew Flintoff and Alviro Petersen on the list. 

Kohli’s fifty of int’l tons\

Kohli smashed his 18th Test ton today, taking his tally of international tons to 50. Only seven batsmen have hit more centuries than him... 

  • Virat Kohli’s 18th hundred in Tests is his fifth vs Sri Lanka. Only five Indian batsmen have posted more centuries than Kohli in Tests — Sachin Tendulkar (51), Rahul Dravid (36), Sunil Gavaskar (34), Virender Sehwag (23) & Mohammad Azharuddin (22)
  • The Indian skipper also joined South African great Hashim Amla as the fastest to 50 international centuries in 348 innings. The second on the list is Sachin Tendulkar (376 innings), followed by Ricky Ponting (420) and Brian Lara (465)
  • He has 21 international centuries as captain in 98 innings, behind South African Graeme Smith’s 41 (368 innings) and Aussie great Ricky Ponting’s 41 (376 innings)
  • He became the first Indian captain to post nine hundreds in a calendar year. Ricky Ponting is the only captain to hit nine centuries in a calendar year twice -- 2005 & 2006. Graeme Smith had accomplished the feat in 2005
  • He is the first Indian captain to score a duck and a century in the same Test

Sachin Tendulkar 100

Ricky Ponting 71

Kumar Sangakkara 63

Jaques Kallis 62

Hashim Amla 54

Mahela Jayawardene 54

Brian Lara 53

Virat Kohli 50*


India Ist innings 172

Sri Lanka Ist innings 294

India 2nd innings (Overnight: 171/1) 

KL Rahul b Lakmal 79 

S Dhawan Dickwella b Shanaka 94

C Pujara c Perera b Lakmal 22

V Kohli not out 104

A Rahane lbw b Lakmal    0

R Jadeja c Thirimanne b Perera 9

R  Ashwin b Shanaka 7

W Saha c Samarawickrama b Shanaka 5

B Kumar c Perera b Gamage 8

M Shami not out 12

Extras: (B-7 LB-1 NB-1 W-3) 12

Total: (for 8 wkts decl, 88.4 overs) 352

FOW: 1-166, 2-192, 3-213, 4-213, 5-249, 6-269, 7-281, 8-321

Bowling

Suranga Lakmal 24.4- 4-93-3

Lahiru Gamage 23-2-97-1

Dasun Shanaka 22-1-76- 3

Dilruwan Perera 13-2-49-1

Rangana Herath 6-1-29 -0

Sri Lanka 2nd innings 

S Samarawickrama b Kumar 0

D Karunaratne b Shami 1

L Thirimanne   c Rahane b Kumar 7

A Mathews lbw b Yadav 12

D Chandimal b Shami 20

N Dickwella  lbw b Kumar 27

D Shanaka not out 6

D Perera b Kumar 0

R Herath  not out

Extras: (lb-1 nb-1) 2

Total: (for 7 wickets, 26.3 overs) 75

FOW: 1-0, 2-2, 3-14, 4-22, 5-69, 6-69, 7-75

Bowling

Bhuvneshwar Kumar 11 - 8 - 8 - 4

Mohammed Shami 9.3 - 4 - 34 - 2

Umesh Yadav 5 -0-25-1

Ravindra Jadeja 1-0-7-0

Top News

High alert across Uttar Pradesh after gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari's death

High alert across Uttar Pradesh after gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari's death

Umar Ansari alleged that his father was subjected to slow po...

Mukhtar Ansari was subjected to slow poisoning in jail: Son

Mukhtar Ansari was subjected to slow poisoning in jail: Son

Ansari's post-mortem to be conducted in UP by panel of five ...

Enforcement Directorate wants AAP's Lok Sabha poll strategy details from Arvind Kejriwal's phone: Atishi

Enforcement Directorate wants AAP's Lok Sabha poll strategy details from Arvind Kejriwal's phone: Atishi

Says actually it is the BJP and not the ED that wants to kno...

PM Modi in conversation with Bill Gates, says India has democratised technology, aims to end digital divide

PM Modi, in conversation with Bill Gates, says India has democratised technology, aims to end digital divide

Says tech can play big role in agriculture, education, healt...


Cities

View All