Rishabh Pant added another historic chapter to his mesmerising journey which promises to touch unprecedented heights for an Indian wicketkeeper-batsman, as, on Sunday, the dashing batsman went past the legendary former captain Kapil Dev in terms of hitting the quickest half-century for the country in the conventional format of the game.
Pant’s 28-ball 50, which bettered Kapil Dev’s 30-ball 50 against Pakistan at Karachi 40 years ago in 1982, eventually ended soon after the batsman rewrote history books but was ultimately yet another severe blow on a lowly Sri Lanka, who continued to suffer on the field with injuries, poor performances and with poor selection calls.
Apart from Pant’s exploits with the bat, there was the brilliance of Jasprit Bumrah at the start of play on the second day on Sunday, with the Indian vice-captain recording his maiden five-wicket haul with the pink cricket ball, as well as in Tests in India.
Bumrah returned with magical numbers of 10-4-25-5 to wreck Sri Lanka's batting, which had resumed at a lowly 86/6 with India ahead by another 166 runs.
Sri Lanka could add only 23 runs before they lost their remaining 4 wickets in the first innings to be shot out for an embarrassing total of 109. With a 143-run lead, India went on to pile on further misery on the touring Sri Lankan team, with the pitch still supporting spinners but not making the lives miserable for batsmen.
The pair of Mayank Agarwal and Rohit Sharma began on a positive note with the two Indian batsmen adding 42 runs in a little under 11 overs to set the tone. Agrawal was the first to be dismissed, edging one behind off Sri Lanka spinner Lasith Embuldeniya to be dismissed for 22.
R Sharma, chasing his maiden half-century as India’s newest captain, had the misfortune of missing the mark by just 4 runs as his innings ended at 46 from 79 balls with four boundaries by Sri Lanka spinner Dhananjaya de Silva. The India skipper failed to clear Angelo Mathews at long-on despite connecting the ball properly, giving the former Sri Lanka skipper a regulation catch.
Auditioning for the role of India's new No 3 whose next assignment will be in the one-off Test in England in them middle of this year, Hanuma Vihari once again had a promising start but could not convert into a big score. The right-handed batsman clubbed 4 boundaries to make 35 from 79 balls before a Jayawickrama delivery passed under his bat to crash into the wickets.
Former India captain V Kohlii continued to have a tough time facing the Sri Lankan spinners. Having hit his first boundary dancing down the track and powering it over Embuldeniya’s head, Kohli was pinned in front of the wickets by Jayawickrama with the struggling batting star standing deep in his crease.
Kohli’s 13-ball 15 in the second innings followed another start-stop kick in the first, with his batting average dropping below 50 after many years at the top.
This was when Pant took matters in his own hands and went on to smash the Sri Lankan bowlers all over the park. The dashing batsman toyed with the Sri Lankan bowling, bringing out several strokes from his T20 book of batting while displaying exemplary footwork to send the ball soaring into the stands. Pant brought up his half-century from only 28 balls and finished at 50 from 31 balls with 7 boundaries and 2 sixes while attempting to clear the boundary ropes once again.
Shreyas Iyer continued to have an impactful performance in the match as he notched up a second consecutive half-century, scoring 67 from 87 balls with 9 boundaries to keep India moving and take the overall lead past the 400-run mark.
India eventually declared their second innings at 303/9 with Ravindra Jadeja scoring 22, Ravichandran Ashwin making 13 while Mohammed Shami also having some fun with the bat, smashing 2 boundaries and a 6 to score rapid 16 not out from 8 balls.
The visiting team got to bat for 7 overs in their second essay but could not emerge unscathed. Sri Lanka were rocked by Bumrah on the third ball of the innings, dismissing Lahiru Thirimanne leg-before for a 3-ball duck.
Sri Lanka, who were placed precariously at 28/1 requiring another 419 runs at stumps, have been on the back foot for far too long but showed late resistance with the pair of Dimuth Karunaratne and Kusal Mendis keeping the Indians at bay.
Devarchit Varma is a cricket writer and journalist with an experience of more than a decade, having worked at Hindustan Times (newspaper) and CricketCountry (website). Along with covering international and domestic cricket, he has also interviewed several current and former top players such as Rohit Sharma, Steve Smith, Dale Steyn, Michael Hussey, Jacques Kallis, Brendon McCullum, Shane Watson, Lasith Malinga and many more. He has also worked in other beats as a journalist in Bollywood (Reliance BigOye) and IT (SiliconIndia) industries.
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