India opener Yashasvi Jaiswal’s sledges led to Niroshan Dickwella losing the plot in the run chase and throw his wicket away on Day 5 on first Test at Galle. Jaiswal asked Dickwella to hit a six, even the Indian Premier League (IPL) was mentioned. The Sri Lanka wicketkeeper-batter ended up losing his wicket to a short ball from Prasidh Krishna and Jaiswal had the last laugh.
Here’s how the conversation between the two went -
"You hit a lot of shots in the first innings. I need to see something. Come on! Show me, there," Jaiswal said pointing towards deep square leg.
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“Take me to the IPL then I will,” Dickwella responded.
The conversation continued a little more. In the 60th over, Dickwella tried to make some room for himself. Krishna bowled a back of the length delivery. The Sri Lankan batter could only manage to get an outside edge and Rishabh Pant took a regulation catch behing the stumps. He departed after scoring 10 runs from 17 balls. Sri Lanka lost six wickets for 156 runs in the run chase of 372.
Dinusha, Dhananjaya score fifties
At the end of the first session, Sri Lanka were 175/6, still needing 197 runs to win. The centurion of the first innings, Sonal Dinusha was batting on 65 off 112 deliveries with Keshara Nuwantha on the other end.
Earlier in the day, skipper Dhananjaya de Silva and Dinusha had shared a 95-run partnership for the fifth wicket. 37-year-old Ravindra Jadeja broke the partnership. Silva went for a sweep shot but the top edge carried to Manav Suthar. He was dismissed for 59 runs from 151 balls.
Dickwella’s unique record
In the first innings, Dickwella had scored 80 runs from 115 balls. In both innings, he was dismissed by Krishna. He shared a crucial 146-run partnership for the sixth wicket with Dinusha. Sri Lanka were able to avoid the follow-on and post 284 in response to India’s 462.
Dickwella is the only batter to score 23 fifties in Test cricket without a hundred. He has second-most runs in Test cricket history without a hundred to his name.