We review the two-Test series between India and Sri Lanka – which India won 2-0 in emphatic fashion.
Apple Podcasts
SpotifyNote: Readers in India can now buy Mike Marqusee’s classic cricket book War Minus The Shooting on Flipkart and Amazon. Readers outside India, can buy the book on Amazon.
Talking Points:
- India’s invincibility at home – across conditions against all opposition
- The relentless pressure that opposition batsmen are up against
- Jasprit Bumrah and a series for the gods
- Ravindra Jadeja’s evolution as a Test batsman
- Sri Lanka’s spinners unable to sustain the pressure
- Pathum Nissanka’s impressive resistance in Mohali
- Shreyas Iyer’s assault in Bangalore – and his six-hitting prowess
- Rishabh Pant’s talent to straddle the edges of possibility
- Dimuth Karunaratne’s masterful sign off
Participants:
Siddhartha Vaidyanathan (@sidvee)
Kartikeya Date (@cricketingview)
Mahesh Sethuraman (@cornerd)
Ashoka (@ABVan)
Related:
- Dimuth Karunaratne, a mortal treading into the galaxy of the divine – Fidel Fernando – ESPNcricinfo
- Where was the planning, Sri Lanka? – Fidel Fernando – ESPNcricinfo
- Bumrah’s numbers capture a befitting story – Sandip G – Indian Express
- Ravindra Jadeja – the sting in India’s tail – Shiva Jayaraman – ESPNcricinfo
*
Lead image from here.
BAU continues in home conditions after India lost the SA series they were expected to win this time. A little fight was expected from Sri Lanka but I’m not sure whether they were too weak or India were too strong.
I watched the Mohali Test 2nd day that we planned after the authorities very graciously decided to have tickets for this game – perhaps due to the social media pressure or some other reason. Whatever it was, we decided to go there (from Delhi) on either 2nd day (Sat) or 3rd (Sun) depending upon our availability. One thing about Mohali Tests is that you get season ticket (for 5 days) and if you travel like us from other cities, the ticket is invariably wasted. In Delhi, you can book the ticket of the specific day.
They say how you observe a match in the stadium depends where your seats are. Our seats were in the left hand side of the pavilion sight screen. That means when Jadeja made his century, we were somewhere near the Deep midwicket. And absolutely adjacent to the popping crease (around extra cover boundary). So our focus was always on the bowler’s feet when he bowled. We spotted spinners like Embuldeniya and J Yadav bowling no balls and were shell shocked. In fact, when Bumrah bowled Nissanka, one of my friends told us it’s a no ball. And after a few seconds, the umpire confirmed it.
One thing we noticed was the Kohli craze; when Jadeja was batting (and was doing declaration batting) Kohli was returning from the nets along the boundary line. For those 3-4 minutes, I feared if Jadeja hits a 6 in our direction, nobody would even realize it. And why did India declare when he was at 175* would always be a mystery and disappointment.
There were spectators – a bit more than what are expected in Mohali Test – but they were noisy for most of the times. Some of them even had those noisy horns. They even applauded the Sri Lankan boundaries.
Two odd things, the free hit alarm, which was absolutely not required in a Test match, and the PA system. We could never understand what the announcer was saying apart from the name of the player. Picture this: some random things for 10 seconds followed by JASPRIITTTT BUMRAHHHH!!!