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IND vs SL | 16 wickets fall on Day 1 on a telling opener in 2nd Test at Bangalore

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The Bangalore crowd were welcomed with 16 wickets in the return of Test cricket to Bangalore on Day 1 of the second Test match of Sri Lanka’s tour to India.

In an unceremonious first day of second Test, India maintained control owing to their bowling department and more importantly Shreyas Iyer who saw India through a tough day in Bangalore. 

After choosing to bat first, India were served up a rude reality with the pitching behaving inconsistently after the 10 over mark. It’s not like India did exceptionally well before that though. A bizarre incident started off their day in the most unlikely of fashions. Mayank Agarwal, was caught plumb in front of the wickets but the decision did not go towards Sri Lanka’s way despite appealing with all their heart. To add insult to injury on their vociferous appeal, the delivery was called a no ball. 

And then came the most bizzare of incidents that we have seen in Test cricket. 

Mayank ran forward after the ball hit him while the umpire gave him a not out; an attempt at short cover was always going to be difficult and the reluctance from Rohit Sharma at the non strikers’ end did not help. Mayank was past halfway when Rohit Sharma decided to call a stern no, and the recently crowned Punjab Kings captain was left nowhere to go.

Mayank fell to a simple runout and that marked the end of the Indian partnership in the very second over.

India did not falter right away after Mayank’s wicket, but the introduction of spin mixed with the horrific nature of the wicket led to one more wicket in the next 10 overs. Rohit Sharma edged a ball back to the slip cordon and marked the end of the Indian captain. Virat Kohli started a good partnership with number three Hanuma Vihari but both were undone by the inconsistency with the bounce in the wicket. While Hanuma got undone by extra bounce on a turning delivery and ended up inducing an edge to the slip while Virat Kohli got caught plumb in front against a delivery that kept very very low.

Understanding that there was no way to survive this wicket if one were to defend through the game, new batting pair in the middle Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer took the attack to the opposition and served up a huge challenge ahead of the them - either get us out or lose the game in the first innings itself.

At that moment, Sri Lanka and the fans watching the game knew that to chase anything above 180-200 was going to be tough on this wicket. They were successful in their attempt to remove Rishabh for 39 off 26, but Shreyas Iyer was different gravy on the day.

Not only did he took India to a safe score of 252, his 92 off 98 balls was so dominating that Sri Lanka looked at a loss of ideas despite the ball starting to turn square from session 2. Iyer was the last wicket to fall on the day against a Jayawickrama square turner from over the wicket that ended up stumping him.

He deserved a century, but his 92 was no less than a storm that virtually took Sri Lanka out of the game. Studded with four sixes and 10 boundaries, the innings looked more like a T20 outing rather than a Test one.

Coming into bowl, India did not need there spinners, given the pace duo of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Shami breathed fire under the lights. With the ball doing much more in the final session than it did in the afternoon, Bumrah swung it both ways to dismiss Kusal Mendis and Lahiru Thirimanne inside the first 5 overs, while Shami ripped into captain Dimuth Karunaratne. 

With the top order cleaned up, Sri Lanka were in deep trouble even before the spin attack came in, and eventually ended up losing 6 wickets at the end of day’s play.

Only veteran Angelo Mathews (42 off 85) was able to score some runs, but the rest of them failed miserably to put Sri Lanka into a stutter of 86/6 at the end of 30 overs.

A total of 16 wickets fell on the day, definitely not a good advertisement for Test cricket with batsmen finding it difficult to judge as to what the pitch would do from which spot. Nobody looked assured, and if things go the same way, nobody will in the course of this Test match. All things point to a two and a half day finish, with India as the overwhelming favourites to win the encounter.

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IND vs SL | 2nd Test | Day 1 - Shreyas Iyer saves India on an awful pitch

Shreyas Iyer’s exceptional 92 off 98 balls saved India on Day 1 of the Bengaluru Test match as Virat Kohli’s return to his IPL home ground turned out to be a nightmare for the batters. A rank turner troubled the Indian batters from the very first overs of the game, and Indian batters succumbed to the oddities of the pitch throughout the first innings of the game. It was only Shreyas Iyer who was able to to pass the 50-run mark, scoring an attacking 92 runs before falling as the last wicket, late in the second session of the day. Barring Iyer, Rishabh Pant looked very well for his 39 off 26 after the batters realised 20 overs into the innings, that there was no way of surviving on a pitch that was turning square from the very first session of the game. Former captain Virat Kohli, was playing a brisk innings, but a length ball from Dhananjaya de Silva kept low and undid his 23-run innings in 48 balls. The pitch came under massive scrutiny on social media for its inconsistent bounce. Players like Kohli were done in by the lack of bounce in the innings, while Ravindra Jadeja and Hanuma Vihari fell against the ball that shot up from the spot. Whatever the case, the pitch could not take away the spotlight from Shreyas Iyer who stunned Sri Lanka - who were thinking to wrap India up within 170-180 runs. However, their plans were undone by the sharp feet of Iyer, who used them to perfection to bring India back on track, after they were down by four for just 86 runs. Going into the game, Sri Lanka will have a steep task ahead of them chasing 252 runs in the first innings against the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel, who would surely be wanting to have a shy at the SL batters in their home conditions.