Plays of the Day: India v Sri Lanka, 2nd Test match, Day Two
If the first day was not so good, the Indian bowlers found the going even tougher on the second day of the second Test match of the series between India and Sri Lanka. Fortunately for them, the batsmen saved the day for the side by not losing an early wickets and going on to score 95/0.
Three centurions for Sri Lanka, four for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750!
The Indian bowlers had seen the Lankans get to two centuries on the first day of the Test match. On the second day, Kumar Sangakkara went on to get to a double century, before Mahela Jayawardene also joined him in becoming the third in the line-up to get to a century. Jayawardene looked good to get to a double century as well, before being dismissed for 174.
The Indian bowling saw four of the bowlers get to 100s! All the four main bowlers selected by the Indian team went for more than 100, and there was a good chance for Harbhajan Singh to get to 200 and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Virender-Sehwag-c95429 to 100 – before the Sri Lankan captain declared the innings. The best bowling figures of the innings belonged to Sehwag, who ended with 1/71, followed by a 1/102, 1/147 and 1/172!
How Tillakaratne Dilshan would be kicking himself for getting out for ‘only’ 54 on the first day!
Another 600-plus total in India-Sri Lanka matches:
India and Sri Lanka have played so often against each other that it will only be fair to say that both the teams know each other rather well. However, in this case, it does look like the batsmen understand the opposition bowling more than the bowlers reading the batsmen. That is probably the reason behind the number of huge, 600 plus scores that are usually scored in the Test matches between the two sides.
The highest ever in an India-Sri Lanka game is a 952/6 that Sri Lanka had got in 1997 at Colombo. The game had been drawn with not even two innings completed in the five days. Incidentally, this is also the highest score ever that a team has got in the five-day format of the game. Then, the second-highest total again belongs to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 – also the sixth-highest in the history of the game – when they murdered the Indian bowling at Ahmedabad to get to 760/7 in 2009. Again, the match was drawn.
Virender Sehwag’s 293 ensured that the Indians managed to get to 726/9 in the same series as above, in 2009. India had gone on to win the game and the series 2-0. In 1986, India had scored 676/7 at Kanpur, while the next in the list the game from that high-scoring 2009 series again, when the hosts had managed 642 at the same venue - Kanpur. Today’s effort of 642/4 now lies sixth highest in the list of India-Sri Lanka games.
Bowling on the Beaches?
Or that is what one thought was happening when Sehwag bowled another of his spell of bowling in the afternoon. Usually, the bowlers have to give away their caps to the umpires at the start of each over, so that it does not interfere with their bowling. Sehwag is a part-time bowler who has had this habit of bowling with his blue cap on. However, today, he went a step ahead and decided to bowl with his floppy hat, something of a first! It was quite a sight and with the city of Colombo quite close to the seas, one got the distinct impression that it was beach cricket in full flow!
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