Sri Lanka v India, 1st Test Day 4 - 5 Talking Points

Sri Lanka v India, 1st Test Day 4 – 5 Talking Points : After a stunning performance by Dinesh Chandimal, things were put on a balance. India required a total of 176 runs in their fourth innings to win. After losing KL Rahul early on in the innings, Ishant Sharma was sent in as the night watchman. India were a bit inclined to the spots of bother and at stumps of the third day, they were poised at the score of 23/1 with Dhawan and Ishant Sharma on the crease.

India required another 153 runs in the fourth day to sneak victory. With the ball turning, things weren’t supposed to be easy for India. As it happened, India kept on losing wickets in constant intervals. A genuine partnership lacked from India’s part and in the end it resulted in a kind of smooth victory for Sri Lanka.

To grasp onto the day’s proceedings in brief, here we come up with the Sri Lanka v India, 1st Test Day 4 – 5 Talking Points: 

1. Virat Kohli’s Failure:

After losing Ishant Sharma and Rohit Sharma early on in the day, the Indian skipper had to come up with some responsibilities as the team needed him to perform badly. Tharindu Kaushal, for the second time in the test, victimised Virat Kohli. Kohli was dismissed at the score of 3 runs. On a delivery that slightly spun, Kohli defended the ball. While on the rise, it was well caught by Silva in the short leg. With the dismissal of Kohli, India were put into further state of despair.

2. Rangana Herath’s bombarding spells:

The left arm spinner did trick India incredibly well in the day. In fact, the Indian batsmen were pretty much clueless in playing Herath. He struck the first wicket of the Indian innings in the last day. Also, he struck the first wicket in the day by dismissing the Indian night watchman, Ishant Sharma. In fact, he continued with his arm spin and clinched the wickets of Rohit Sharma and the tail. The final nail to the coffin of the Indian innings was nailed by Herath when he dismissed Ajinkya Rahane. Herath’s figures were as 21-6-48-7.

3. Aggressive ploys in Captaincy by Mathews:

Defending a rather low total of 176 runs in the fourth innings against one of the strongest batting sides, Angelo Mathews never opted for defensive ploys and was always in quest for wickets rather than saving runs. Rangana Herath was utilised effectively and the rotation of bowlers did pay off well for Sri Lanka. Herath struck 7 of the Indian wickets while Tharindu Kaushal struck the 3 remaining wickets to seal India’s fate on the losing cause.

4. Disastrous batting collapse:

With only 3 batsmen being able to score more than 10 runs in the second innings, it was rather a disastrous performance by the Indian batting line up as a whole. Players like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Wriddhiman Saha failed to cross 10 runs. Rahane was the highest scorer of the innings with only 36 runs. Being bundled for a total of just 112 runs is simply poor to be precise. After such a performance, the Test prospects of the team seems to be in definite spots of bother.

5. Early strikes:

Commencing with the score of 23/1, India required another 153 runs in the day with 9 wickets in hand. India lost their first wicket in the day after managing to add just 7 runs to the tally. Ishant Sharma was dismissed. He was followed by the subsequent dismissals of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan. Half the side were dismissed at the score of just 60 runs. Also, this was followed by a poor performance from the tail enders. In the end, Sri Lanka ceased a memorable victory by a margin of 63 runs to lead the series 1-0 in favour of them.