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Cricket PlayersSonal Dinusha’s brave stand on Day 5 denies India a win
The left-hander scored his third century of the series as Sri Lanka finished the day on 429/9 to draw the second Test in Colombo
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MUMBAI: India’s bowling limitations were exposed by a fighting batting performance from Sri Lanka’s lower order on Day 5 of the second Test at the Sinhalese Sports Club, Colombo, on Thursday.
Playing with five specialist bowlers, India had multiple options but failed to take the last four wickets as Sri Lanka finished on 429/9 declared to eke out a memorable draw.
Led by a heroic unbeaten 133 by their rising star, Sonal Dinusha, the home team defied the odds to play out the entire final day and stonewall India’s bid for a clean sweep of the two-Test series.
Deep Dive
Resuming the day at 229/6, Sri Lanka were effectively 16/6. But, Test cricket rewards resilience, and Dinusha, batting with monk-like concentration, produced a marathon effort, facing 264 balls, to turn a lost match into a genuine contest.
The belief for the fightback came during Dinusha’s seventh wicket partnership of 112 off 246 balls with Keshara Nuwantha. The duo played out the entire opening session to reach lunch at 329/6 in 104 overs.
Dinusha’s biggest test came in the post-lunch session when he lost Keshara immediately on resumption. Keshara was done in by a peach of a delivery from left-arm spinner Manav Suthar, who extracted spin and bounce to induce an outside edge to keeper Dhruv Jurel.
On day 4, Suthar had turned the tide in the post lunch session with two quick breakthroughs. Dinusha, however, showed maturity beyond his years and remained unfazed to score his third hundred in two Tests, thwarting Suthar’s threat.
The only way to survive on a last day’s pitch is to play each ball on merit. That Dinushka could do that was mainly due to the grit shown by Sri Lanka’s tailenders.
After Keshara departed, No 9 Prabhat Jayasuriya (2 off 28 balls) and Lahiru Kumara (12 off 90 balls) batted it out. They didn’t get many runs but by staying at the wicket they allowed Dinushka to play a risk-free game.
Even while batting the No 10 batter, Kumara, Dinushka didn’t have to play desperate shots. He was fine with taking a single of the first ball, allowing Kumara to face the remainder of the over. It said it all that he had only five fours on way to the 90s (190 balls). His 50 (off 99 balls) had just 2 fours.
Another feature of Dinusha’s performance in the series is how he has converted three of his four innings into hundreds. He has done that by ensuring he doesn’t get bogged down in the nervous 90s. On the final day too, he accelerated once he neared the mark, moving into the 90s with two doubles and then hitting a four to move from 93 to 97. On 98 at lunch, he completed his hundred on the first ball after resumption with an on-drive off Mohammed Siraj for a double.
With scores of 100, 84, 103, 133 not out, the 25-year-old aggregated 420 runs and was adjudged as the Player of the Series.
Dinusha’s exploits were expected but Keshara exceeded all expectations. Coming into the game, Keshara had an average of only 12 in First-Class cricket. During his 46 runs, he played some impressive strokes.
When India took the new ball, he hit back to back fours off Mohammed Siraj. The first was an uppishly driven square of the wicket, but the next ball was a beautiful off drive.
From India’s point of view, they did win the series 1-0, but the main goal of bolstering their chances in the WTC final race was laid to waste. India needed a clean sweep to move above Bangladesh to fourth spot.
The bowlers’ inability to break through the lower order on the final day of the two Tests wasted the good work from the first Test win. India remain on fifth spot with 51.52 PCT.
India had the upper hand on the first four days of the contest in Colombo too, but in the final analysis, it amounted to nothing.
It is a dead pitch which truly tests a bowler’s quality. On such a track, you need bowlers with the ability to take the surface out of the equation.
Among the Indian bowlers who can do that in tough subcontinent conditions, Jasprit Bumrah, has been rested from the series for tougher assignments ahead. The bowling attack operating in Sri Lanka were found wanting on the last day, proving that the unit doesn’t have the fuel bowl with the same zest for two innings on the trot to back their captain’s decision to follow-on.
The scanner will be on the spinners, Manav Suthar finished with figures of 41-7-121-3, debutant Saransh Jain 37-4-98-1 and Ravindra Jadeja 38.3-4-94-3. Among the pacers, much was expected of the experienced Siraj, but his pace was down and had a below par showing of 15-7-26-1. Prasidh Krishna also couldn’t repeat his first innings performance for returns 18.3-3-57-1.
