Team India produced a dominant outing on Day 1 of the second and final Test of the series against Sri Lanka on Saturday. After putting 252 on the board, the Indian bowlers left the visitors reeling at 86/6 at the end of the day's play. While Shreyas Iyer top-scored for India with 92 off just 96 deliveries, fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah was the pick of the bowlers with three wickets to his name so far.
It was yet another uninspired performance from the Sri Lankan team as they bowled a significant number of loose deliveries during the Indian innings, despite making a strong start to the innings. The visitors had reduced India to 86/4; however, Rishabh Pant (39 off 26 balls), along with Iyer, took the game away from Iyer with their hard-hitting in the middle.
Former India opener Aakash Chopra was not impressed with Sri Lanka's bowling performance, calling their bowling attack “terrible."
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“We know there were injuries. There's no Lahiru Kumara, Dushmantha Chameera or Pathum Nissanka. The team is in transition; that is also okay. But is this the quality of bowling? I found the bowling terrible,” Chopra said on his official YouTube channel.
“Suranga Lakmal is playing his last Test match and he bowled decently. But apart from him, when you look at Embuldeniya.. he's their best bowler but I don't think he is Test class. Jayawickrama is bowling full-tosses and conceding almost 4.5 runs-per-over on this pitch. That is not Test quality bowling on his surface. If you are bowling bad deliveries in every over, then only you can concede at such run-rate on this pitch.”
{{/usCountry}}“Suranga Lakmal is playing his last Test match and he bowled decently. But apart from him, when you look at Embuldeniya.. he's their best bowler but I don't think he is Test class. Jayawickrama is bowling full-tosses and conceding almost 4.5 runs-per-over on this pitch. That is not Test quality bowling on his surface. If you are bowling bad deliveries in every over, then only you can concede at such run-rate on this pitch.”
{{/usCountry}}Talking further about the side's batting, Aakash said that Sri Lanka have resembled a “Ranji team” so far.
“When it comes to batting, I admit that the ball skids in the pink ball under the light, but there was no application and quality. There was no contest. Sri Lanka were very poor. On a flatter surface in Mohali, they were bowled out twice in five sessions. Here, it's more difficult, so their chances are minimal,” said Aakash.
“Individually, these players are good but collectively, they are absolutely disappointing. Sri Lanka are playing like a Ranji Team of the caliber of Mumbai or Karnataka at the moment.”