After registering a dominating win over the hapless Lankan side in the first Test by an innings and 222 runs, Team India will now be eyeing another Test series whitewash at M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, where the second and last Test of this tour is scheduled to be played from the 12th of March. This will be a pink-ball Test match and will be played under the lights. India has played a couple of pink-ball Tests at home and managed to win both of those.
In the first Test, India won the toss and opted to bat first, and before declaring their innings, they struck a massive 574 runs for the loss of eight wickets. Ravindra Jadeja was the highest run-getter as he played an unbeaten knock of 175 while Rishabh Pant piled up 96 runs. Ashwin stacked 61 runs while Vihari amassed 58 runs. Coming to bat, Sri Lanka only managed to register the score of 174 in the first innings, followed by a 178 in the second innings.
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Ravindra Jadeja proved to be the star with the ball as well, he scalped 9 Sri Lankan wickets in the match, while Ashwin scalped 6 wickets and Shami grabbed 3 wickets. Sri Lanka would be hoping to better their performances in the second Test while Team India will be looking to make things worse for the visitors at the M Chinnaswamy.
India
The Indian skipper, Rohit Sharma will be having a problem of plenty to pick the Playing 11 for the 2nd India vs Sri Lanka Test in Bengaluru. Axar Patel, the left-arm spinner has been added to the squad. Thus not picking him wouldn’t be a good idea. But at the same time, Mohammad Siraj is a gem of a bowler in a day-night test, so he can also be included in the XI but the place in the team is the only one, that will be vacated by Jayant Yadav.
Probable XI: Rohit Sharma (C), Mayank Agarwal, Hanuma Vihari, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel/Mohammed Siraj, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, and Mohammed Shami
Sri Lanka
While India has a problem of plenty, Sri Lankan skipper Dimuth Karunratne on the other hand has plenty of problems to solve as Dushmantha Chameera and even Pathum Nissanka might not be available for pink-ball Test. In such circumstances, Karunratnbe would have to go back to Dinesh Chandimal as a replacement for Nissanka and would have to rely on only a couple of pacers in Lakmal and Vishwa Fernando and draft in Praveen Jayawickrama in the Playing 11 to bowl in tandem with Lasith Embuldeniya.
Probable XI: Dimuth Karunaratne (C), Lahiru Thirimanne, Kusal Mendis, Charith Asalanka, Angelo Mathews, Dhananjaya de Silva, Niroshan Dickwella, Suranga Lakmal, Vishwa Fernando, Lasith Embuldeniya, and Praveen Jayawickrama
Fantasy XI Prediction 1:
Rishabh Pant, Rohit Sharma, Pathum Nissanka, Hanuma Vihari, Ravindra Jadeja (C), Ravichandran Ashwin (VC), Dhananjaya de Silva, Mohammed Shami, Suranga Lakmal, Lasith Embuldeniya, Jasprit Bumrah
Fantasy XI Prediction 2:
Niroshan Dickwella, Rohit Sharma (C), Pathum Nissanka (VC), Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Dhananjaya de Silva, Axar Patel, Suranga Lakmal, Lasith Embuldeniya, Jasprit Bumrah
