SL v IND, 3rd Test, Day 2: CT Player of the day - Hardik Pandya

Day 2 of the final Test of the 3 match series between India and Sri Lanka belonged to India’s dashing all rounder Hardik Pandya. Pandya brought up his maiden International century, which incidentally is the first of his first class career too.

Very important innings in the context of the game

Indian openers KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan provided India with a great start on the day 1. After the dismissal of the openers, Sri Lankan spinners got into the act. India suffered a minor collapse with India’s famed middle order failing to live up to the expectations. Visitors ended the day 1 on 329/6.

At the start of the second day, India needed contributions from their lower middle order. Wriddhiman Saha, being the senior was expected to bat with the tail. But he was dismissed in the second over of the day. The scoreboard read only 339 and India had already lost 7 wickets. Even a score of 400 looked very difficult.

Kuldeep Yadav joined Hardik Pandya at the crease. Sri Lanka stopped focussing on getting Pandya out and tried to get Kuldeep Yadav out, who looked quite determined. Pandya and Yadav stuck together to build a strong partnership and helped India cross 400.

Soon after crossing the 400 mark, Sandakan dismissed Kuldeep Yadav. When Umesh Yadav joined Pandya after the dismissal of Mohammed Shami no one would have given Pandya chance of getting to 100. Then Pandya switched on his T20 show.

Chandimal put 8 fielders on the boundary, still, the hard-hitter backed himself to cross the boundary line. The boundary was looking too short as the right-handed batsman was clearing them at will. Apart from his power hitting, his game management deserves applauds too. He farmed the strike keeping strike for most of the 66 run partnership with Umesh Yadav.

Pandya proved his critics wrong

Many critics were questioning the inclusion of Pandya in the Test squad. They said his first class record isn’t good enough for him to merit a call up to the team. Pandya was only seen as limited overs format specialist as he didn’t have even a single first class century to his name.

The fact he can score at a very fast rate is beneficial to the Indian team. This will help the team to fill the void left by the retirement of MS Dhoni. Panya brought up his century off just 86 balls, an innings which included 7 sixes. He was dismissed soon but the damage was already done. He scored 108 runs at a strike rate of more than 100. Along with 7 huge sixes, he also hit 8 boundaries.

Back with the ball

India ended their innings at 487, and Sri Lankan spirits went down. They failed to put up any fight in their innings and kept losing wickets at regular intervals. They lost both their openers in the first 5 overs of the innings. As if it was not bad enough their inform batsman Kusal Mendis was run out after a mix up with captain Dinesh Chandimal.

Then Pandya, who couldn’t put a put wrong today dismissed Angelo Mathews. Sri Lanka had lost first 4 wickets even before reaching 40 mark.  For once there was a chance of Sri Lanka not reaching the 100 mark. But Dinesh Chandimal and Niroshan Dickwella showed some resistance. Those 2 got together to put on a 63 run stand as Sri Lanka crossed 100.

Then chinaman Kuldeep Yadav came into the game when he dismissed Dickwella. After that, none of the batsmen looked equipped to handle the mystery spin of Kuldeep Yadav. Yadav took 3 more wickets and ended up with impressive figures of 4/40. Ravichandran Ashwin also supported him as he took the wicket of captain Dinesh Chandimal.

Sri Lanka finally folded up for a meagre 135 gifting India the lead of 352 runs. Virat Kohli decided to enforce the follow on and Sri Lanka batted out t the remaining 13 overs of the day losing just 1 wicket for 19 runs.

Hardik Pandya a bright prospect

Considering Sri Lanka’s batting throughout the tour, India might not need to come out to bat again. India look set to register a 3-0 series whitewash and will thus look to the challenges ahead.

India will tour South Africa at the end of the year where a fast bowling all rounder can be a handy inclusion. Pandya perfectly fits the bill.