India contrived to lose from a winning position in the first Test match at Galle. It was reminiscent of a similar defeat in a Test match in Barbados against the West Indies in 1997, in which India dominated all the sessions of the Test match, only to blow it all in the last session – to lose the match and the series.
But Sri Lanka deserved to win. Kumar Sangakarra, who will be playing his last match in international cricket tomorrow, led from the front, as you would expect him to, just as he has done countless times in the past.
Sangakarra has had an extraordinary reign in Test cricket, and it is only unfortunate that he plays for a small country such as Sri Lanka, which is why his name does not inspire instant recognition, in the manner of Sachin Tendulkar, Shane Warne or even Kevin Pietersen. The fact is he has had as much of an illustrious career as the other greats of cricket.
Now, coming back to tomorrow’s match to be played at the P Sara Oval in Colombo, the venue has a reputation for quick results. Most of the matches played here have ended in a result, which Sri Lanka winning a majority of them. It is a venue that favors the Sri Lankan attack and one would expect that the Indian team would be ripe for the taking, given how badly they capitulated in the last match.
It is just remarkable how badly the Indian players have played the spin of Rangana Herath. Indian batsmen have always been considered the best players of spin bowling. Given how they played against Herath, one would have to revaluate the thought.
In fact, this is not the first time Indians have struggled against spin. They have batted poorly against spinners with half the talent of Hearth, such as Nathan Lyon and Monty Panesar. Maybe, because of their fear of fast bowling, which the Indians have worked hard to overcome, they have forgotten the art of playing against a quality spin attack, which is just sad.
Indians will be without Shikhar Dhawan for tomorrow’s match and could play their seam bowling all-rounder, Stuart Binny in place of the ineffective Harbhajan Singh. Murali Vijay, their most dependable batsman in Test cricket over the last couple of years, will be back. It remains to be seen if Cheteshwar Pujara plays in place of Rohit Sharma, who is seemingly undroppable even after a series of low scores.
The Teams
India: 1 M Vijay, 2 KL Rahul, 3 Rohit Sharma/ Cheteshwar Pujara, 4 Virat Kohli (capt), 5 Ajinkya Rahane, 6 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 7 R Ashwin, 8 Harbhajan Singh/ Stuart Binny, 9 Ishant Sharma, 10 Amit Mishra, 11 Varun Aaron
Sri Lanka: 1 Dimuth Karunaratne, 2 Kaushal Silva, 3 Lahiru Thirimanne, 4 Kumar Sangakkara, 5 Angelo Mathews (capt), 6 Jehan Mubarak, 7 Dinesh Chandimal (wk), 8 Dhammika Prasad, 9 Rangana Herath, 10 Tharindu Kaushal, 11 Dushmantha Chameera/ Vishwa Fernando
Match Conditions
P Sara Oval has always been a seam-friendly pitch and one wouldn’t bet against the match getting over in three days. The weather is a big problem as it is expected to rain on all five days of the match. However, one can only hope for the best.
Watch India take on Sri Lanka in the 2nd Test to be played at Colombo, live on Sony Six, at 10 AM from Thursday to Monday.
