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Swinging series in Sri Lanka ignored in Australia

India took on Sri Lanka in a cracking Test series. Too bad there was nowhere to watch it for Australians. AFP PHOTO / SAEED KHAN
Expert
1st September, 2015
14

Although both The recent Ashes and India in Sri Lanka Test series were roller-coaster cricket, there was a big difference.

The Ashes showed wide swings Test by Test; England won comfortably in the first, third and fourth Tests, while Australia thrashed the home side by huge margins in the second and fifth Tests.

All these Tests were one-sided and lacked competition.

On the other hand the three-Test Sri Lanka vs India series swung every day, every session, every hour.

What a shame that this exciting series was not shown on TV in Australia, neither on free-to-air TV nor on pay TV.

Who decides which matches would be televised Down Under? In June-July this year, the Sri Lanka vs Pakistan Test series was telecast in Australia on Foxtel.

What a spectacle we missed, as the just concluded Sri Lanka vs India series was a cracker, as all three Tests provided fluctuating finishes.

Trailing India by 192 runs in first innings of the first Test in Galle, Sri Lanka were sent back in and were five wickets down for 95 in their second innings – still behind by 97 runs.

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An innings defeat looked certain, but Dinesh Chandimal scored a magnificent 162 not out, adding 225 runs for the sixth wicket with Lahiru Thirimanne (44), and they won the Test by 63 runs.

India spoilt Sri Lankan legend Kumar Sangakkara’s farewell Test in Colombo (PPS), winning by 278 runs to level the series.

In the final Test, at Colombo (SSC), Sri Lanka required 385 to win but were four down for 74 and then 5 for 107. Then their captain, Angelo Mathews (110), and Kusal Perera (70) added 135 runs for the sixth wicket, making the impossible look probable.

However fast bowler Ishant Sharma and carom-ball spinner Ravichandran Ashwin took vital wickets, and India was victorious by 117 runs to take the series 2-1.

It was India’s first away series win in four years and their first in Sri Lanka in 22 years.

There never was a dull minute as the lower order batsmen from both countries batted skilfully after their top-order batsmen (with few exceptions) floundered disappointingly.

Cheteshwar Pujara, omitted in the first two Tests, was among the few batsmen to bat skilfully. And he would have missed the series-deciding final Test if openers Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan were fit.

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Opening the batting, Pujara remained unbeaten with 145 in India’s score of 312. He became the fourth Indian to carry his bat, after Sunil Gavaskar’s 127 out of 286 versus Pakistan at Faizalabad in 1982-83, Virender Sehwag’s 201 out of 329 versus Sri Lanka at Galle in 2008, and Rahul Dravid’s 146 out of 300 versus England at The Oval in 2011.

However, Pujara made a duck in the second innings, accentuating the highs and lows of Test cricket.

Despite eight centuries, it was a bowlers’ series. The highest opening stand by either team in this series was 15 runs – the lowest top opening-partnership in a three-Test series in the history of cricket.

The fall of wickets in the series make dramatic reading:

India
First Test 1-14, 2-28 (in their first innings of 375) and 1-12, 2-30, 3-34, 4-45, 5-60, 6-65, 7-67, 8-81 (in their second innings of 112).
Second Test 1-4, 2-12 (first innings of 393) and 1-3 (second innings of 325).
Third Test 1-2, 2-14, 3-64 (first innings of 312) and 1-0, 2-2, 3-7, 4-64 (second innings of 274).

Sri Lanka
First Test 1-15, 2-15, 3-27, 4-54, 5-60 (1st innings of 183) and 1-0, 2-1, 3-5 (second innings of 367).
Second Test 1-1 (first innings of 306) and 1-8, 2-33, 3-72, 4-91 (second innings of 134).
Third Test 1-11, 2-11, 3-40, 4-45, 5-47, 6-47 (first innings of 201) and 1-1, 2-2, 3-21, 4-74 (second innings of 268).

I can’t remember a series when early wickets toppled so quickly in all three Tests.

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Not surprisingly, the player of the series was a bowler, India’s Ashwin who captured most wickets (21 at 18.09) including a 10-wicket haul in the first Test.

Also India’s tall and hot-tempered quickie Sharma took his 200th Test wicket during the final Test.

“Being 0-1 down was never easy,” said winning captain Virat Kohli at the press conference. “I was told it has never been done [away from home] and it created a bit of history.

“Feels nice, especially with such a young team, early in our careers, it is a magnificent milestone, winning here for the first time in 22 years…

“But the attitude has been brilliant and Pujara came in after someone was injured and he saw it as an opportunity and not difficulty. That is why we are playing the kind of cricket we are playing… Really proud of the boys.”

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