Mohammed Shami took four wickets on the fourth day of the 1st Test. (AP Photo)
When India started the Test against Sri Lanka, many expected returning spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja to lead the bowling charge for the home side. On slow Indian pitches, the two have been in prime form. But on the fourth day of the first Test at Eden Gardens in Kolkata, Indian seamers showed their class. On a pitch that assisted pacers on first day of the match, it turned into a good wicket on third and fourth day. But, India pace bowling pair of Mohammed Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar did not let Sri Lanka to run away with the match despite no help from the wicket.
It was not particularly easy against Sri Lankan middle order. Captain Dinesh Chandimal and Niroshan Dickwella began the day and saw off the early charge from the bowlers. The duo tried to counterattack by changing their strategy by playing more shots and not leave the ball outside off stump. The little burst of energy gave them a good lead of 28 runs before Shami roared.
The pacer, who did not bowl in the final stages of day three after a minor hamstring pull, was breathing fire with the ball on Sunday. He bowled slightly outside off and forced edges from both the batsman which he was only beating on Saturday. He managed to beat both Dickwella and Chandimal on multiple occasions. The 27-year old struck his first wicket by coming in from around-the-wicket, bowled a ball that bounced a little extra and moved enough to find Dickwella’s edge, who was caught at slips by Virat Kohli.
The wicket opened the floodgates. Bhuvneshwar got Dasun Shanaka in the very next over with a terrific outswinger. Few balls later, the captain departed, finding an edge on another deadly Shami delivery. Shami maintained an average speed of 85 mph which troubled the Sri Lankan batsmen as he continued to maintain a steady line and length with that pace. He was probing outside the offstump for most of hte time and was rewarded with four wickets.
But, Sri Lanka’s tail wagged with left-arm spinner Rangana Herath showing his skills with the bat and scoring a half-century, that extended Lanka’s lead to 122 runs. But Herath’s resistance was broken by Kumar, soon after which Shami ended Lankan innings with a dangerous delivery that rattled Suranga Lakmal’s stumps.
It was just third time in a Test at home that Indian seamers had taken all the wickets, with Shami and Kumar taking 4 wickets a piece, and the remaining 2 going Umesh Yadav’s way. The last time it happened was back in 1983 in a Test between India and West Indies at Ahmedabad. Former all-rounder Kapil Dev had taken nine wickets and BS Sandhu had taken the remaining wicket in the match.
Like the last season, India seamers continue dominate whenever the team needed them. Apart from the early wickets, they have done well to wrap up the tail as well. At Eden Gardens and without the help of India’s two most successful bowlers in last two years, India managed to bouce back in the Test.
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