STATS HIGHLIGHTS
Follow UsSo far in this Test, everything has belonged to the bowlers, apart from a few scintillating knocks. Shreyas Iyer in both the innings and Rishabh Pant in the third innings were the silver lining for the batsmen.
16 wickets fell on the first day, which is the most on the first day of a day/night Test match. Indian bowlers, especially the pacers, continued to torment Sri Lanka and Jasprit Bumrah was the star with his first five-wicket haul in Tests at home.
With a massive lead of 143, India were on the advantage and the batsmen maximized it by posting 303 runs in the second innings. At the stroke of stumps, with half an hour left, Sri Lanka were jolted early in their chase of 447 as Lahiru Thirimanne was pinned in front by Bumrah on the third ball of the innings. However, Kusal Mendis and Dimuth Karunaratne steadied the ship to bail the team out from the tricky period. Here are a few notable stats from day two, starring Pant:
Dazzling Rishabh enters record book
In the first innings, on a difficult pitch, Rishabh was one of those Indian batters who deployed a different technique. Instead of the defensive approach, Rishabh went for his natural attacking instinct and scored 39 runs at a strike rate of 150 before he was dismissed.
In the second innings, with a big lead, Rishabh was even more aggressive. He got to his half-century in just 28 balls to register the fastest half-century by an Indian, by a wicket-keeper overall and the second joint fastest on Indian soil.
He was dismissed as soon as he reached his half-century (50). At the end of his innings, Rishabh had a strike rate of 161.3, which is only the second-best strike rate in an innings of 50+ for an Indian in Tests. Throughout the Test, Pant had a strike rate of 156.1, which is the highest strike rate for a batsman in a Test after scoring 30+ runs in both the innings.
Bumrah’s first five-for at home and eighth overall
Prior to this series, Bumrah played only two Tests at home out of the 27 he had played. The newly appointed vice-captain, picked up two wickets in Mohali. He didn’t have much to play in the first Test.
However, in the second Test, in the twilight session, Bumrah was unplayable with the pink ball in hand. He bagged three wickets in the third session of day one and added two more in the first session of day two. By virtue of it, Bumrah recorded his first five-for in Tests at home and eighth overall. Among Indian pacers, he has the joint most five-wicket hauls in the first 30 matches. Kapil Dev also had eight five-for in his first 30 Tests, but Bumrah has played only 29, which means, he has an opportunity to overtake Kapil.
Sri Lanka succumb to a low
After losing half their side for 50 runs, Sri Lanka were in disarray in the first innings. All their main batters were in the hut at the start of day two and Niroshan Dickwella once again was with the tail-enders, searching for runs.
However, a steaming Bumrah was too much for Sri Lanka’s tail. Lasith Embuldeniya started the proceedings on day two as he was the first to be dismissed, fourth for Bumrah. Ravi Ashwin picked the other two wickets and Bumrah scalped the wicket of Dickwella, his fifth. Sri Lanka were bundled out for 109, their second lowest total against India in Tests.
Kohli’s average drops under 50 for the first time since August 2017
Mario Vargas Llosa, a nobel prize winner quoted “When you start having bad luck, there isn’t an end to it”. Kohli’s cricketing career since the start of 2020, is somewhat relatable to it. In both the innings this Test, he looked good until he got a grubber.
At the start of the second innings, Kohli had to score over 20 runs to keep his average over 50 in Tests. As he was dismissed at the score of 13, his average dipped to 49.95. After 40 consecutive matches, for the first time, his average dropped below 50. The last time his average was below fifty was in August 2017. Post that, at the end of each year including 2017, his average didn’t drop below 50 until today.
Expensive Sri Lankan bowlers
Sri Lankan bowlers in this series have been a bit below par. In pitches that were conducive for bowlers, their bowlers erred in lengths and paid the price by conceding runs at a brisk pace.
In the first Test, India batted only once and scored 574 at a run rate of 4.4. In this Test, though they scored 250+ in the first innings and 300+ in the second innings, in both their outings, they scored at over 4 runs per over. Overall, in this series, Sri Lankan bowlers conceded at an economy of 4.23, which is their highest in a Test series.
