India post a daunting total on a spin-friendly pitch at M.Chinnaswamy Stadium on Day 2 of the pink-ball Test. Rohit Sharma declared India’s innings for 303/9 and set a huge total of 447 for Dimuth Karunaratne-led Sri Lanka.
In reply, Sri Lanka lost their opener early. After fifer in first innings, Jasprit Bumrah trapped Lahiru Thirimanne in front of the stumps on the third delivery he bowled. Skipper Karunaratne and Kusal Mendis took the positive approach and looked to score off every opportunity. Karunaratne and Mendis remained unbeaten for 10 and 16 respectively as visitors need 419 more runs to pull off an unlikely win.
India will target a win by huge margin to cap off the home Test season. In the second innings, Sri Lankan bowlers did not look as threatening as the first innings. While Rishabh Pant created history with fastest half-century for India in Tests, Shreyas Iyer scored his second half-century of the Test to become the fourth batter to achieve the rare double.
Even after Iyer got out for 67, Rohit did not declare the innings straightaway and gave Mohammed Shami and Axar Patel a chance to get some quick runs against tired Sri Lankan bowlers.
For Sri Lanka, Praveen Jayawickrama took four wickets for 78 runs including Virat Kohli, Pant. Left-arm spinner Lasith Embuldeniya took three wickets whereas Vishwa Fernando and Dhananjaya de Silva took one wicket each. Playing in his farewell Test, Suranga Lakmal did not get a single wicket in his last spell in the format.
As Sri Lanka were bundled out for 109 in the first innings, India will look to register their biggest Test win against them. As per margin by runs, India’s biggest Test win against Sri Lanka came in July 2017 when a Virat Kohli-led side beat them by a margin of 304 runs in Galle.
Against all odds, Sri Lanka will have to create history and break the record of highest ever run chase. The record for highest successful run chase belongs to West Indies. In 2003 against Australia, West Indies chased down a total of 418 and won the match by three wickets.
