On Day 1 of the second Test of the series between India and Sri Lanka, a fiery send-off led to a physical altercation between Yashasvi Jaiswal and Asitha Fernando. Jaiswal headbutted Fernando as the latter had a few words to say while the batter was walking back to the dressing room. The Sri Lankan fast-bowling coach Ryan van Niekerk labelled it as an ‘overflow of emotion’. He wants the match referee Andy Pycroft to take the call on the matter.
"Look it is hard Test cricket, isn't it? When you're coming up against a team like India, you can't sit on the back foot and just bowl at them. I think from our side, it's bringing the challenge all the time, trying to make sure we can create something," Ryan van Niekerk said in the press conference.
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"And so, from my point of view, I've really asked the bowlers to stand up and create something. The verbals are probably an overflow of emotion. I'll leave that to the match referee to deal with," he added.
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Meanwhile, India’s batting coach Sitanshu Kotak admits that Jaiswal shouldn’t have gone so close to Fernando. He believes that it happened in the heat of the moment.
But, the incident did not go down well with former Indian cricketer Ajay Jadeja. He feels that Jaiswal entered a dangerous territory with the physical altercation and he should be able to take it (sledges) if he is willing to dish it out.
Jaiswal misses fifty
In the same over, Jaiswal had hit Fernando for three fours. The pacer bowled from around the stumps and once again the opener played it on to his stumps. He missed his half-century and departed for 45 runs.
Asitha shines with ball
Fernando claimed three wickets on Day 1, dismissing skipper Shubman Gill and Ravindra Jadeja as well. Gill was dismissed for 50 whereas Jadeja missed his half-century. Jadeja was knocked over for 43 in the third session.
He got Sri Lanka off to a good start on Day 2 as well, taking the wicket of debutant Saransh Jain with a short ball to square him up.