Twitter Reactions: India seven wickets away from victory

Ajinkya Rahane and Shikhar Dhawan were the two talking points on Twitter on the 4th Day of the 3rd Test match between India and Sri Lanka which is being played at Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi. Rahane was promoted to no. 3 in India’s second innings as the hosts needed some quick runs, but the right hander couldn’t find form at his new batting position either as he was holed out at deep long-on trying to play a lofted shot against the off spinner Dilruwan Perera.

Twitteratis however defended Rahane and were of the opinion that the Indian team management should keep its faith in the classy middle order batsman who has played some fantastic knocks for India in test match Cricket in overseas conditions.

Dhawan, on the other hand, continued the good form that he has shown in international Cricket in the last 6-8 months and played another solid knock at the top of the order to strengthen his case to be picked as one of the two openers in the XI in the first test against South Africa.

Today was Dhawan’s birthday as well as he turned 32. Twitteratis poured wishes on the dashing left hander from Delhi on this special day and hoped that he would continue scoring truckloads of runs for India in all formats of the game. Twitteratis were also treated by a couple of cameos that Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma played down the order. Both the batsmen scored quick-fire half centuries and guided India’s lead past the 400-run mark to trigger an early second innings declaration.

The Indian bowlers had a brief go at the Sri Lankan top order towards the end of the day’s play and they managed to dismiss three Sri Lankan batsmen to push the visitors further on the back-foot.

Here are a few selected tweets of the day

Rahane be like ??#IndvsSL pic.twitter.com/lNTYL6O8cS

— Hamid (@Engineer_hu_bc) December 3, 2017

Well……..Rahane tried attacking his way out of trouble. Didn't work. Feel for him

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) December 5, 2017

Rahane could have played few more Ranji games, didn't. Now plays a rank bad shot to get out. 17 runs in 5 innings for the series.

— Saurabh Malhotra (@MalhotraSaurabh) December 5, 2017

Ajinkya Rahane named vice-captain for SA tour yesterday. Today promoted to no.3 to get some batting time in. Cannot be a further clearer indication of the team management's confidence in him. #IndvSL

— Chetan Narula (@chetannarula) December 5, 2017

Rahane really needs to pull his shit together. #IndvSL

— Samreen (@SamreenRazzaqui) December 5, 2017

Test Matches
Ajinkya Rahane
Matches 43 Runs 2826 Avg 44.15

Rohit Sharma
Matches 23 . Runs 1401 Avg 42.45

Twitter Critics : Ajinkya Rahane is world class Test Batsman . Rohit Sharma is a limited over specialist. ??

— Mihir Chavan (@ImMihir05) December 5, 2017

Virat Kohli's reaction when Rahane survived tells you how much India's vice-captain means to this Test team. He is a class player just a little out of form. If he spends some time he will surely find form. Important player with so many away tours coming up#INDvSL

— Sarang Bhalerao (@bhaleraosarang) December 5, 2017

Ajinkya Rahane in this series:

4
0
2
1
10

17 runs at ave 3.40#IndvSL

— Bharath Seervi (@SeerviBharath) December 5, 2017

@mohanstatsman .Hi Mohan can you pls give me the details of Ajinkya rahane' s last 10 innings

— VINOD KAMBLI (@vinodkambli349) December 5, 2017

Oh dear, in the midst of a excellent spell Mohd Shami is throwing up too

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) December 5, 2017

Mohammad Shami is breathing fire at the Kotla. Those two balls to Sadeera could've put Khaleesi's dragons to shame. #IndvSL

— Jatin Sapru (@jatinsapru) December 5, 2017

Hostile short bowling at its best!

Shami pitches it short and Samarawickrama has no answer, only manages to glove it behind. Sri Lanka lose their first wicket.#INDvSL

— Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan) December 5, 2017

This is brutal fast bowling from @MdShami11. He's got these mean bouncers that aim right in your forehead. Can't blame Sadeera over there. That was one ruthless cherry! Oh hello, Shami doesn't look alright, looks like the injury scare is back. Phew! He's up and running! #INDvSL

— Proud Kashmiri (@NahmatMaeraj) December 5, 2017

Kohli's 2017:

Tests – 1059 runs @ 75.64, 5 100s
ODIs – 1460 runs @ 76.84, 6 100s
T20Is – 299 runs @ 37.37, 2 50s

Total – 2818 runs @ 68.73, 11 100s#IndvSL

— Bharath Seervi (@SeerviBharath) December 5, 2017

I simply loved the move of virat to send Rahane up the order. Eventhough he didn't score well it was a great move. Not many captain's do that. Clear indication that virat is very serious about the South African tour. Good sign for India.

— Sreenath Sreekumar (@cheta_sree) December 5, 2017

'Kohli declaring' is one of d best sight ever

— Freak (@VIRAT18i) December 5, 2017

Something Kohli's very good at other than hitting Text book cricket shots,Captaincy and scoring centuries is Making Rohit run for a quick 2! :p

— Sushmã??? (@CricketLuvInd) December 5, 2017

Pujara is playing with a SR of 100+ time to leave this planet #INDvSL

— ßєคɾɖ Guყ ??? (@BeingFlicked) December 5, 2017

I will still have @ajinkyarahane88 on my flight to #SouthAfrica. He is fighting the demons in his mind at the moment. Technique, skill and ability are intact. Matter of one inning. So keep calm and back this conventional batsman. #indvsl #Rahane

— Mikkhail Vaswani (@MikkhailVaswani) December 5, 2017

Very sure that I am more disappointed than Rahane himself at this wasted chance#INDvSL

— KAJALaneNENU?? (@BanarasiBasanti) December 5, 2017

Angelo Mathews' face mask has initials AM on it. You cannot make this up… #IndvSL

— Chetan Narula (@chetannarula) December 5, 2017

I am not concerned about Rahane one bit, South Africa, bit more pace in the wicket, consistent bounce and you will see what he has got for you. Leave him alone for now.

— Abhishek (@Sajjanlaunda) December 5, 2017

If India play this one safely and bat till lumch tomorrow, I will have some serious questions for Virat Kohli. I am dead sure he is declaring this evening.

— Abhishek (@Sajjanlaunda) December 5, 2017