Devdutt Padikkal cdelebrates his maiden Test century on day 1 of the first Test between India and Sri Lanka in Galle. (BCCI/Creimas Photo)Kuldeep Yadav and Prasidh Krishna remain unbeaten for India at the end of Day 2 at 460/9. Rain had played its part in the proceedings. Sri Lankan bowlers, unlike yesterday, have found their mojo today, dismissing seven wickets in a couple of sessions.
Devdutt Padikkal is the top scorer for India with 167 runs. KL Rahul too chipped in with 82. Earlier, Indian skipper Shubman Gill won the toss and opted to bat first on a flat Galle wicket. Unfortunately, Yashasvi Jaiswal fell early in the first session after being run out on Day-1.
After that, KL Rahul joined Devdutt Padikkal, and both batted with immense determination. However, KL Rahul suffered cramps in the final session and was forced to retire hurt. Skipper Shubman Gill walked in and played some lovely drives before trying to take on Prabath Jayasuriya down the ground and perished.
It was hard work for the Sri Lankan bowlers, who kept toiling through the day without much success. While Jayasuriya did bowl tidily, he did not have much success to show for it. Debutant Keshara Nuwanatha has had his moments, but for the major part of his spell he has remained inconsistent.
SCROLL BELOW FOR OF INDIA VS SRI LANKA 1st TEST, DAY 2 FROM GALLE
Well, that's the end of the day's play. There is a very high chance Sri Lanka will come to bat sometime tomorrow morning. The wicket has deteriorated quite a bit compared to yesterday, but if the Sri Lankan batters apply themselves, they will be able to score runs, and given the role of rain, all three results are possible in this game.
Both the batters have survived; here we are in the final over of the day, and Jayasuriya is going to bowl it. He has the opportunity to pick up a five-wicket haul against India and continue his good run in Galle. Yesterday, he did not have the help of other bowlers; today, Keshara chimed in, and that has made a huge difference.
Mohammed Siraj has fallen here. The shot and the pose looked lovely, but the ball hit the toe end of the bat, and the mid-off fielder completed the catch. Ashita Fernando is the bowler who bowled quite superbly through this innings, and he deserves that wicket. Kuldeep Yadav is the new man who walked in.
Mohammed Siraj is the new batter who has walked into the middle. And he has tried to attempt a few shots, which might be giving a hint that India might not come to bat tomorrow. They want to maximise as much as they can in the remaining time. If they were looking to survive, they could have sent Kuldeep Yadav.
Prabath Jayasuriya has picked up the wicket of Dhruv Jurel. Here it is a similar shot he got away on 29, but on this occasion things have not worked out for Jurel. It was a good innings, though from him will keep his spot for the next Test, depending on how the result of this game plays out.
Lahiru Kumara has been in the Sri Lankan side for a long time while he has the potential has delivered some good spells from time to time for the most part he has been pretty ordinary and again today bowling Suthar he just has not been able to create that trouble to the batter having that extra pace.
Dhruv Jurel was dropped when he was 29 here. He needs to make the most of that dropped chance. After that century against West Indies in Ahmedabad, he has gone quiet a bit; he needs some runs under his belt, especially with someone like Sarfaraz Khan waiting in the wings to grab his opportunity.
400 up for India; it has been a pretty good effort from them, but there were times in this game it did seem like India would get into a position of declaration, given how flat the wicket has been playing, but it is a good comeback from Sri Lanka here today. Lahiru Kumara has come into the attack; it might be to do the cleaning job of the tail-enders.
In addition to the sluggishness, the odd delivery is now keeping low, which is making it harder for the batters to judge the length as well. Manav Suthar, in the opportunities in the warm-up game, has looked pretty solid, and he would want to replicate a similar style of innings here in Galle.
Keshara has got Ravindra Jadeja; the batter was trapped in front of the wicket and was given out LBW. The game is moving pretty quickly to the liking of the Indians. Someone has to stay with Dhruv Jurel and put on a partnership; India will need to get that 450-500 score to put pressure on the Sri Lankan batting.
Sri Lankan spinners have bowled over 60 overs, and that kind of sums up how they have looked to approach their games here in Galle, which is not a bad tactic, but given how well Ashita Fernando has been bowling, De Silva could have definitely used him for a few more overs and see if they could have created any breakthroughs.
The next 10-15 minutes will show how India would want to go about this innings from here on. The Sri Lankans are finding a lot of help on this surface suddenly, and they would be away; they can only make the most of it if they can pick wickets while the seam is prominent, and India will know they do not have the batting in them to bat another 45 overs unless something miraculous happens.
Well, the Tea break has been taken. It is a very good session for Sri Lanka; they have moved the game significantly by picking three wickets, and that can be the nature of these games here in Galle. India has two new batters at the crease, relatively. They would want to get to that 450-500 mark with the start they got; anything less than that would be disappointing.
The marathon innings from Devdutt Padikkal has come to an end. Here, he tried to defend the ball and was beaten by the flight created by Prabath Jayasuriya, and the ball is turning properly now. Padikkal dragged his foot forward, and the wicket-keeper behind him completed the stumping.
Given how much time is lost in this game, it will be interesting to see how many runs India will need. There is rain forecast for the remaining days of the Test match too. So India might want to start thinking about the number they want in this first innings and declare accordingly.
Devdutt Padikkal has gone past 150 here. What an innings it is turning out to be from the left-hander. India were looking for a number three for a while, but with this innings, the hiring for the position will be closed for a while. What a marathon innings it has been under all the heat and humidity.
KL Rahul has fallen here; it was a similar kind of dismissal he sort of got away with yesterday against Keshara, but the new ball carried turn and bounce to the short-leg fielder. Keshara has been brilliant with this second new ball here in Galle. India has lost a couple of quick wickets here. Dhruv Jurel is the new man to walk in.
Well, the new ball did the magic for the Sri Lankan bowlers, and as soon as the wicket fell, in walked KL Rahul, who was retired hurt yesterday through cramps. Both Padikkal and Rahul must continue to bat the way they did yesterday, as India will need that 450 mark or so in this Test match.
Keshara has picked up his first wicket of the Test match, and it is Rishabh Pant who charged down the track and tried to hit the ball through the off-side and got the bottom edge, which the fielder on the boundary took. It was a wasted opportunity for Pant; he got a start and threw it away. KL Rahul is the new batter to walk in.
It has been that sort of Test match; it was pelting down not long ago now the sun is shining bright again. We are one over away from the new ball, and if Sri Lanka chooses to take the new ball, either they will pick a few quick wickets or the Indian scoring rate will go up a few notches pretty quickly.
Well, it is not surprising that Dhanajanaya De Silva has gone with Nuwantha and Jayasuriya for some reason; the Sri Lankan skipper has been quite reluctant to use his seamers a lot through yesterday. Even today despite all the rain we had conventional wisdom would suggest a burst from fast bowlers but he continues with the spinners.
The game has restarted here in Galle. The conditions still look a bit cloudy; hence, the bowlers, especially the faster ones, might get some swing and seam movement here.
2nd session: 14:35-16:00
Tea break: 16:00-16:20
3rd session: 16:20-17:45
Well, the rain has returned here again in Galle. It has been one of those days when the rain has been quite persistent.
We have more good news folks the match will resume at 2:15 PM IST
We have some good news here from Galle: the covers have been removed, and the umpires are inspecting the pitch. Hopefully we will have a start time soon. Do stay with us for all the updates.
“See, he is someone, when he plays in one-day (match) as if you have seen him, he bats at number 6 or 5. So when you are a senior batsman, and if you are open to bat at any number and help the team, I think that is a great player to have.
“So for a team, he is someone who is very useful. So in a red ball match he opens, in a one-day match he bats wherever required. Now, the way he is batting, he is taking a lot of responsibilities, he is trying to create a lot of partnerships, and that is something really good to have, and he has been very, very consistent,” he added.
“KL batted really well. I think he was getting only cramps. So by the end of the day, he was fine. Probably once you start getting cramps, you get it in the hamstring, you get it in the groin, you get it in your hand,” Kotak told reporters at the end of the day. “But at the moment he looks absolutely fine. So he should be good to go tomorrow,” he said.
Bangladesh completed one of the most significant victories in their Test history on Sunday, beating Australia by nine wickets in Darwin to register their first Test win on Australian soil.
It was a result packed with statistical significance, ending a 23-year wait for an Asian team other than India to beat Australia in a home Test and giving Bangladesh a landmark victory in conditions where they had previously struggled. (Read more)
Teams have scored 600 after winning the toss and batting first, and sometimes they have also been bowled out for 120. So clearly, there are two types of pitches here. The one today is looking very good to me. It looks as if the entire pitch is covered with grass, so there are no rough or patchy areas. If you look at it, the pitch has a very beautiful appearance, which makes me feel that batting should be relatively easy. This is not a rank turner, so let me make that clear first. If you win the toss, you would want to bat first, but for the first 30-40 minutes, you will have to play carefully against the seamers because the pitch hasn’t yet lost its colour, which means there is still a little bit of moisture. Whenever there is grass, you can get some lateral movement simply because of the green grass.So this is a pitch where you want to bat first and put up a big score, because batting in the fourth innings in Galle is very difficult. the average score here is around 120-130. So the toss is very important, as always, and both teams will want to bat first and make the most of this beautiful pitch.
Obviously, long journey, especially for me, playing here at Galle and be part of the 600th Test is a big feeling and I’m feeling very happy about it. [On India arriving around 10 days early and preparing for the Test series] Look, it was very important, firstly, to get that 10 days of window, and then obviously, practice at Colombo for like six days, and those six days were very good in terms of preparing in all the conditions. But yeah, I mean, we got enough time to prepare for the Test series. [On helping the inexperienced players adapt to Sri Lankan conditions] There are a few guys who are travelling here the first time. But yeah, the conditions are a bit different in terms of the wickets we got in the last few practice sessions. But, they have played enough cricket back home. We had a chat about how the Kookaburra ball behaves. In terms of planning and if you look at the other spinners, we’ll get extra bounce here. So those were the chats we had amongst the group. I’m pretty sure they’re ready to go. [On the conditions] If you look at the last couple of games which we played at Galle, they were good batting wickets and teams scored very high in the first innings. If you get a spinning track, then probably spin more. It’s a good stadium and good wicket to play cricket. And wind plays a factor as well. So I think it’ll be a good experience.
India (Playing XI): Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Devdutt Padikkal, Shubman Gill(c), Rishabh Pant(w), Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel, Manav Suthar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna
Sri Lanka (Playing XI): Lahiru Udara, Nishan Fernando, Dinesh Chandimal, Kamindu Mendis, Dhananjaya de Silva(c), Sonal Dinusha, Niroshan Dickwella(w), Keshara Nuwantha, Prabath Jayasuriya, Lahiru Kumara, Asitha Fernando
Bangladesh recorded a famous Test win in their first appearance in Australia in 23 years, beating Pat Cummins’ men by eight wickets at the Marrara Cricket Stadium in Darwin on Sunday.
Led by a brilliant first-innings century from opener Tanzid Hasan and a six-wicket haul for seamer Hasan Mahmud, Bangladesh racked up a massive 228-run first-innings lead after Cummins had opted to bowl first after winning the toss on Thursday. (Read more)
At the start of their transition under captain Shubman Gill last year, India benched wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav throughout the five-match Test tour of England. It had little to do with Kuldeep’s prowess and more with an unstable spot in the batting order.
India’s faltering Test number three has stripped the team of qualities essential to dominant Test forces: a batting order maintaining equilibrium and an XI bold enough to field all of its match-winners at once. The No.3 churn will resume this week against Sri Lanka in Galle, when India will play a third different batter in the slot in three matches in the current World Test Championship (WTC) cycle. (Read more from Lalith Kalidas)
[Difference between the last Test in Galle vs Bangladesh and yesterday] The Bangladesh pitch was a little bit dry. When you look at yesterday's pitch, I think the pitch was a little bit damp with this rain. So, as I said earlier, credit goes to India batters. But as a bowling unit, I feel that we should have done better yesterday, especially the first session. I thought if we could have got another one or two wickets in the first session, we would have been in the game. But, as a bowling unit, we are on and off. Today, you have to stick with your plans and you have to go from ball one. [Game plan against the Indian spinners] When you look at Jadeja and Kuldeep, they have tons of experience in their cricket. So, it's really challenging, especially after losing the toss at Galle. It is always tough batting in the second innings and the last innings here. So, it is challenging. But still, you have to be proactive as a batter. So, as I said earlier, you need to have a proper defence and proper sweep if you want to score runs here. [On the plans going forward] As a team, that is our target, to win this game and win this series. If you want to stay in the (WTC) table, these two games are very important as a team. So, I'm sure, if we get a chance to play in this game, we are trying our best to deliver our stuff.
[On summarising the game so far] It was a tough day for us. The pitch, it was like a normal day one pitch at Galle. Credit goes to India batters, they were outstanding throughout the day yesterday. But, still, we have to bowl in the right areas, so if we can do that, we can come in good. [6 centuries tied with Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardena at this vine. Talk about your love story with Galle] Yeah, it's great to hear that. It's always good to be among those legends. If you are playing in Galle, you always know that it is a tough place to play, especially for the batters but I'm really proud about my performance. [Message to the young batters] When you look at the pitch, it was really slow, slow spin there. You need to have a proper defence and proper sweep. So, if you can follow that really well, you can come good as a batter. [On having a memorable game vs India in 2015 at this venue] Yeah, it was a really good game. We came to the ground, actually, we packed our bags and we came to the ground on the fourth day because that much tough that pitch was. But, luckily I changed that game scoring 162 and we won that game. So, yeah, it is a good memorable thing as a batter and as a player, winning a game for your country, it's always a pleasure.
[What he loves more: batting or bowling?] Right now, I am at that stage where I look at what the team needs. For example, if the ball is turning, then I become a frontline bowler. If it's a flat wicket and there is seam movement and all that, like in England or Australia, then I play purely as a batter. So basically, whatever the team's requirement is, what the team needs in a particular situation, accordingly I look to play and play my role. [On upcoming spinners] Today's youngsters are very confident. They know what their game is, and they know how to change gears within their game. So, to some extent, I feel that with so much cricket happening, and with so many live matches coming up, like the IPL, they get to play in big tournaments with big players. Their confidence level has gone up because of that, and that is why they are settling into international cricket quite easily. For them, it's not such a big deal that we are playing in Australia, England or South Africa. I have never felt that any youngster who has come into the team is struggling, or when you look at them and their body language, they look nervous. It doesn't feel like that.
[On how he built the temperament to bat long] When I started, I used to bat at number 4. If you look at my entire Ranji Trophy career, my average is more than 60. Whatever Ranji Trophy and Duleep Trophy first-class cricket I have played domestically, my batting average is more than 60. So somewhere, I had that belief that I had that ability. But sometimes what happens is that you come into the Indian team and you don't get that batting number. And sometimes the situation is such that I have batted at number 8 and 9 as well. So, when you are sitting in the dressing room with your pads on, next to you, a fast bowler is selecting a ball. So seeing all those things, my morale, my confidence, would go down. Sometimes you think to yourself, "I have to go and score runs." And in that same dressing room, a fast bowler is selecting the ball, thinking, "Come on, now bowling is coming." So because of all those things, my confidence was literally disturbed. I would think, "Oh man, what is this? The team doesn't even have confidence in me." So I have seen that in my early days, that I didn't get that number. Very low, many times I even went in to bat below Ashwin. So somewhere, all those things disturbed me. But luckily, now I have got the opportunity to bat at number six. In England, I was doing just one thing. I had limited my shots. I didn't have to play every shot. I didn't have to play the cover drive, I didn't have to play the square drive. I had removed all those shots from my book, that I don't have to play these shots in England. I had to work very hard for that. Because sometimes you feel that while sitting in the dressing room, you can think more, that yes, I won't play this, I won't play that. But the same thing, when you go into the middle in a pressure situation, when the ball is swinging, bouncing, then you have to implement that. So that is a little mentally challenging. But I was strong that I don't have to play the cover drive, I don't have to play any shot outside off. So that helped me quite a lot.
Being a spinner, if I see the wicket is dry, if I see there are a few cracks in the middle of the wicket, I always feel that, okay, it might be good for the spinners because some might turn, some might keep low. So, I always feel if wicket is dry, then you'll get more turn and bounce, as we have on this wicket, because this wicket is also very much on the dry side. The odd ball is turning, odd ball is going straight and keeping low. As the game progresses, I would say more turn and bounce will be there. Spinners will enjoy on this wicket. [On whether the pitch will deteriorate quickly or gradually] Yesterday also when they were bowling, ball was gripping, odd ball was turning from the start. So I would say as the game progresses, we don't know how much weather will allow, but yeah, as the game progresses, wicket will start turning. [Is there any pitch where you felt you must get a minimum of 12 wickets?] A few times, when we played in India, I think one was in Indore and the other one was in Pune where Smith score a hundred. So those two wickets I felt it was looking like a rank turner. As a spinner, if you see the wicket, you always feel happy and you start getting excited. But I don't want to play on the rank turner because I need to score runs as well. So I would prefer a slow turner to start with and as the game progresses, then if ball starts turning, that would be an ideal wicket.
We have some bad news, folks. Here in Galle, the match has been delayed due to rain. Well let's hope we will have resumption soon.
Teams have scored 600 after winning the toss and batting first, and sometimes they have also been bowled out for 120. So clearly, there are two types of pitches here. The one today is looking very good to me. It looks as if the entire pitch is covered with grass, so there are no rough or patchy areas. If you look at it, the pitch has a very beautiful appearance, which makes me feel that batting should be relatively easy. This is not a rank turner, so let me make that clear first. If you win the toss, you would want to bat first, but for the first 30-40 minutes, you will have to play carefully against the seamers because the pitch hasn't yet lost its colour, which means there is still a little bit of moisture. Whenever there is grass, you can get some lateral movement simply because of the green grass.So this is a pitch where you want to bat first and put up a big score, because batting in the fourth innings in Galle is very difficult. the average score here is around 120-130. So the toss is very important, as always, and both teams will want to bat first and make the most of this beautiful pitch.
Obviously, long journey, especially for me, playing here at Galle and be part of the 600th Test is a big feeling and I'm feeling very happy about it. [On India arriving around 10 days early and preparing for the Test series] Look, it was very important, firstly, to get that 10 days of window, and then obviously, practice at Colombo for like six days, and those six days were very good in terms of preparing in all the conditions. But yeah, I mean, we got enough time to prepare for the Test series. [On helping the inexperienced players adapt to Sri Lankan conditions] There are a few guys who are travelling here the first time. But yeah, the conditions are a bit different in terms of the wickets we got in the last few practice sessions. But, they have played enough cricket back home. We had a chat about how the Kookaburra ball behaves. In terms of planning and if you look at the other spinners, we'll get extra bounce here. So those were the chats we had amongst the group. I'm pretty sure they're ready to go. [On the conditions] If you look at the last couple of games which we played at Galle, they were good batting wickets and teams scored very high in the first innings. If you get a spinning track, then probably spin more. It's a good stadium and good wicket to play cricket. And wind plays a factor as well. So I think it'll be a good experience.
Hello and welcome to our live blog of India taking on Sri Lanka on Day 2 of the Galle Test match. Devdutt Padikkal and Rishabh Pant played quite nicely yesterday to close out the day's play and will hope to continue today. Padikkal especially will have a double hundred in sight.
India dominated Day 1 of the Galle Test against Sri Lanka, reaching 288/2 after choosing to bat first on a pitch expected to deteriorate. The standout feature was not just Devdutt Padikkal’s unbeaten maiden century, but the batting lineup's aggressive, proactive approach against spin—a phase of bowling that had previously troubled them for two years. (Read more from Venkata Krishna B)
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