Rohit Sharma is on the verge of winning his first series after being appointed as the full-time captain of the Indian Test team. With 419 more required to level the series, Sri Lanka have already lost a wicket in the stiff chase of 447 at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. At stumps on the second day of the Pink Test, Dimuth Karunaratne was batting on 10 and was accompanied by Kusal Mendis (16*). India, on the other hand, need to pick the remaining 9 wickets on Monday to win the match.
Sri Lanka had a troubled start to their chase as they lost opener Lahiru Thirimanne for a three-ball duck right in the first over. Jasprit Bumrah provided the early breakthrough, trapping the batter in front.
Lanka skipper Karunaratne and Mendis steered the innings thereafter and made sure the visitors don’t lose any more wicket before stumps.
India declared their second innings at 303 for 9 during the final session of the second day. The declaration came after Axar Patel was cleaned up by Lasith Embuldeniya for 9. Mohammed Shami remained not out on 16.
Earlier in the day, Shreyas Iyer once again top-scored with a 87-ball 67 while wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant struck a 28-ball half-century to set the record of fastest Test fifty by an Indian batter.
Pant served the fans with a heavy dosage of entertainment. He cut, pulled, swept, reverse swept, drove, charged down the wicket at will and raised his fifty off just 28 balls with 40 of those runs coming in boundaries. It was fastest Test fifty by an Indian, surpassing former captain Kapil Dev’s 40-year-old record against Pakistan. He fell for an even 50, becoming the third scalp of left-arm spinner Praveen Jayawickrama (3/50).
The Indians scored at a good pace in the second session with Lankan bowlers failing to exploit the spin-friendly conditions.
Rohit was calculative in selecting his shots before lofting off-spinner Dhananjaya de Silva straight to Angelo Mathews to fall for 46. His footwork looking good, he largely swept left-arm spinners and charged the wicket to counter off-spin of De Silva.
Vihari, who seemed to be making the number three spot his own, missed a straight one from Jayawickrama and lost his off stump.
Jayawickrama also sent back Virat Kohli (13), whose again fell leg before and his search for that elusive 71st international hundred just got longer. He is without an international hundred in 73 innings now. It was another delivery that kept low and he was trapped on the back-foot.
In the morning session, fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah (5/24) completed his eighth five-wicket haul and first at home as India polished off the Sri Lankan lower-order in a jiffy.
(With Agency Inputs)
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