Galle: If India’s dominance on the first day of the Galle Test wasn’t enough to dictate the proceedings in the match, their performance on the second day would surely indicate that this test match has been a complete one-way traffic so far, without a red signal.
Hardik Pandya has been well among the news in the recent times for his six-hitting exploits and his good performance in limited overs’ cricket earned him an opportunity to be a part of the Test team and the 23-year old hasn’t disappointed to be honest.
Coming in to bat at number eight, when the team was already in a commanding position, the right-hander made his Test debut count by not only scoring a fifty but by having his name written in the record books.
His 50 of just 49 balls is the seventh fifty plus score by an Indian on debut batting at number eight. He also became the fourth Indian batsman to register a fifty-plus score on debut against Sri Lanka, with the other three being Suresh Raina (120 at SSC, Colombo in 2010), Arun Lal (63 at Chennai in 1982) and Lalchand Rajput (61 at Colombo, SSC in 1985).
His three mighty sixes also makes him the first Indian batsman to hit three sixes on Test debut.
On the other hand, the calm and composed Cheteshwar Pujara continued from where he left on day one as he went on to score his sixth 150 plus score in Test cricket.
His 153, which is highest overseas score in Test cricket puts him behind Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Shikhar Dhawan in the list of Indian batsmen to have scored 150 or more runs in an innings in Test cricket in Sri Lanka.
The Indian team also went on to register their second highest team total in Sri Lanka as they ended up with 600 runs on the board. The highest total made by them was in 2010 when they scored 707 runs in Colombo.
For the Sri Lankans, pacer Nuwan Pradeep was the lone warrior as he claimed a six-wicket haul in the run-fest, which outdid his earlier best figures of 4/62 in 2015.
Not only with the bat but the Indians continued their stronghold over the match as the pacers put their hand up and a combined team effort resulted in the hosts losing half their side by the end of the day with only 154 runs on the board.
The visitors drew first blood when Umesh Yadav trapped Dimuth Karunaratne in front of the wicket for two runs. Mohammad Shami was the best bowler for Virat Kohli’s team as he scalped the crucial wickets of Danushka Gunathilaka (16) and Kusal Mendis (0).
Newly appointed ODI skipper Upul Tharanga fought with a brave 64 runs from 93 balls but a brilliant piece of fielding by Abhinav Mukund and wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha was enough to sent him back to the hut.
Ashwin too got into the wickets column as he dismissed wicketkeeper batsman Niroshan Dickwella but Sri Lanka would hope that their former captain Angelo Mathews, who ended the day with an unbeaten 54, continue to play the way he has to help the team avoid a follow-on if not taking them closer to the mammoth Indian total of 600.