Jasprit Bumrah, after blasting Suranga Lakmal for a knock on the stumps, kept running down the pitch and stopped the late batsman, placing a hand around him and hugging him. Moments later, the entire Indian team had reached Lakmal and congratulated him for a good career.
Lakmal, who played 69 Tests for 170 wickets, announced that this will be his last series against India as he has agreed to join Derbyshire in English county cricket.
The Indian team’s gesture had an immediate effect: the entire crowd at the Chinnaswamy Stadium stood on their feet, giving Lakmal a standing ovation. Players often suggest that they have the wrong burden of being role models, especially with their on-field behavior, but here in a heartbeat there was evidence of how much of an impact they had on those watching the team.
The last day of the series was also Sri Lanka’s best. Kusal Mendis, who returned to the Test team after being banned for a bio-bubble breach, was at No. The compact right-handed batsman was once touted as the next big thing, but he has struggled to establish himself as a player who can consistently make a difference after 47 Tests.
That day, Mendis took a positive approach from the word go, and it helped a lot as the usually stable Dimuth Karunaratne was a touch unsteady. The pitch was still working enough for the spinners, with the variable bounce as well as the turn made it difficult for the batsmen to control their shots.
And yet, Mendis played a variety of shots from hard sweeps to lobs to cover drives at midwicket, but as he was in good shape, he charged Ashwin for 54, and was beaten with the ball . Cleverly away from the angle to be stumped.
If Mendis was the half-bright spot for Sri Lanka, Karunaratne went full hog, scoring a skillful century on a tough pitch against a varied, high-quality attack. But even these two positive players did not miss out on a 238-run loss and a 2-0 clean sweep.
Sri Lanka have never won a Test match in India, but this is probably the first time they have toured and haven’t even looked to challenge India. All they can think of as a straw is that this is still a relatively young team, and players are growing in their roles and trying to level up the team. On the other hand, he is not short of experience, and had more Test caps among them than the Indian team, especially after the exclusion of Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane. This shows that the players being invested in are not the fastest learners, making it difficult for the coaching staff and the captain.
To understand this better, look at the evolution of the player of the series Rishabh Pant over a short period. When he entered the international scene, he had talent, big shots and fearlessness. But, to this he has added patience, better shot selection and situational awareness, making him one of the most dangerous batsmen in the world on any surface.
What is even more gratifying is that Pant has gone from simple to brilliant behind the stumps. This can only happen with hard work.
Sri Lanka will hope that the players they have invested in can make a similar effort, and take their game to the next level, at the earliest.
short score
India 252 (Iyer 92; Jayavikrama 3/81, Embuldeniya 3/94) and 303/9 Dec. (Iyer 67, Pant 50; Jayavikrama 4/78) beat Sri Lanka by 238 runs 109 (Matthews 43; Bumrah 5/24) and 208 (Karunaratne 107, Mendis 54; Ashwin 4/55, Bumrah 3/23)
No comments:
Post a Comment