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Cricket PlayersIND vs SL: Rishabh Pant’s fastest fifty, Jasprit Bumrah’s fifer propel India in Bengaluru Test
With Sri Lanka offering little resistance, the hosts focused on raising their game as the second Test hurtled towards another early finish after Day 2
When up against an opposition that is unable to provide a test, good teams use the opportunity to virtually compete against themselves, better their marks and set higher benchmarks.
On the second day of the pink-ball Test at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium under lights, India went out to achieve just that. On a wicket which challenged every batter's technique, Rishabh Pant came out and played a blinder to score the fastest half-century ever for India, in 28 balls. The dashing left-hander broke Kapil Dev’s longstanding mark, the 30-ball half-century he scored against Pakistan at Karachi in 1982.
Earlier, on a dry pitch tailor-made for spinners, Jasprit Bumrah claimed his first five-wicket haul in India, proving that he can be equally lethal in subcontinent conditions as in pace-friendly overseas contests.
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With Shreyas Iyer backing his scintillating 92 in the first innings with a breezy 67 (87 b, 9x4), after Rohit Sharma’s 46 at the top, India buried Sri Lanka under a heap of runs on Sunday before declaring on 303/9, setting the visitors an improbable target of 447 runs to win and level the series. Bowled out for 109 in the first innings, the visitors were 28/1 at the end of Day 2.
PANT’S CAMEO
As in the first innings, Pant walked in to a defensive field by Sri Lanka skipper Dimuth Karunaratne for his spinners. But Pant found the boundaries at will. He charged at the spinners to hit two sixes, then put them off their lines by reverse sweeping, lap sweeping and scooping for fours. He showed the full range by leaning back to play the late cut and drive and loft over the covers.
He was all over the demoralised Sri Lankan attack after coming to the crease after tea. When a desperate Karunaratne went to his most experienced pacer, Suranga Lakmal, Pant charged down the pitch for the first delivery and sent the ball crashing to the fence, moving to 45 off 23 balls. The fifty was reached off the 28th ball with a gorgeous cover drive off left-arm spinner Praveen Jayawickrama, getting to the pitch of the ball and drilling the tossed-up delivery.
LETHAL BUMRAH
While the visitors were heavily dependent on their spinners, Bumrah looked like taking a wicket every other ball. He made short work of Sri Lanka’s tail in the morning, rattling them with bouncers to add two wickets to his three on Saturday evening, completing his first five-wicket innings haul at home. Bumrah then struck third ball in the second innings when he trapped opener Lahiru Thrimmane with a late swinging full delivery.
Such has been the impact of Bumrah in his short career so far that he is expected to go down as one of the finest pacers produced by India. This is his 29th Test but only the fourth at home. His reputation has been built on exploits in South Africa, England and Australia. To be compared to Kapil Dev (434 wickets), Zaheer Khan (311) and Ishant Sharma (311 wickets), he knows he will have to eventually have the kind of numbers they finished with bowling at home.
India’s most successful pacer, Dev played 65 off his 131 Tests at home, taking 219 wickets with 11 fifers and two 10-wicket match hauls. Khan played 38 off his 92 matches at home (104 wickets, 3 fifers). Ishant Sharma played 42 off his 105 Tests at home (104 wickets, 2 fifers).
Coming into this Test, Bumrah had six wickets in three Tests at home, the best 3/84 against Joe Root’s England in Chennai last year. In the first Test in Mohali, he took 2/36 in the first innings; his services were hardly required in the second.
While all eyes on the spinners, Bumrah made his presence felt immediately. With the pink ball under lights, he rattled the batters, running through the top-order with figures of 7-3-15-3, accounting for opener Kusal Mendis, Thirimanne and Angelo Mathews. His first wicket was from an outswinger to right-hander Mendis, his second off an out-swinger to left-hander Thirimanne, reducing Sri Lanka to 14/2. With the experienced Mathews seeing the ball well and having moved to 43, Bumrah deceived him with clever change of pace. And at 85/6, the game was over as a contest.
It’s no surprise the team is projecting him as a leader, naming him vice-captain. His game intelligence stood out in how he set up batters. He continued to torment the batters on the second afternoon. With two men standing close in front of the batter to psyche him, Bumrah fired a bouncer to Embuldeniya and his attempted hook only ended as a catch lobbed to the ‘keeper. Niroshan Dickwella could not sway out of the line of a short ball angled into him from around the wicket. It took the glove, giving Bumrah a deserved fifer and showing that conditions don’t really matter for him.
