Sri Lanka vs India, 3rd Test Match, Day 2: 5 Talking Points

Sri Lanka deserved a pat on the back for coming back strongly during the latter half of Day 1. Sri Lanka hoped to dismiss the visitors cheaply but only surprised themselves after the end of the morning sensation. The Lankans faced the brunt of Hardik Pandya’s bat as he clinched his maiden ton in Test cricket. As a result, the number one Test side in the world posted a daunting total of 487 on the board.

Sri Lanka in reply could only manage to survive 37 overs and were bundled out for 135 only. The home side found themselves entangled with the spin web created by Yadav as Virat Kohli asked the Lions to follow on for the second successive occasion in the series. Sri Lanka, following on, are now trailing behind India by 333 runs. Let us look at the five talking points for the day’s play.

1. The Hardik Pandya Show

The second day of the Third Test match started out with India losing the wicket of gritty Wriddhiman Saha and Kuldeep Yadav and Hardik Pandya consolidating with an important partnership. However, after losing Yadav, all hell broke loose for Pandya as he attacked the Sri Lankans with his power hitting. He scored 26 off a single over from Malinda Pushpakumara. Pandya first scored a couple of boundaries off the first two balls of the over and then followed it up with three successive maximums in the next three deliveries.

Here’s the video

The Mumbai Indian batsman scored the fastest century in Test Cricket (in 86 balls), coming in at number 8, as he scored 106 off just 96 deliveries, at a strike rate of 112.5, smashing eight boundaries and seven sixes. The first fifty of his innings came off 61 deliveries, while the second fifty came off just 25. 48 of them in the second half of his innings came through boundaries. It was the Hardik Pandya Show which treated us early morning on Sunday and demoralised the Sri Lankans.