On Day 2 of the second Test of the 3-match series between India and Sri Lanka, the visitors had a bad outing as their bowlers were put on remand by India’s most trusted duo of Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara.
Starting from 11/1, both Vijay and Pujara batted out the first hour of the play with caution. But after that, they came with all guns blazing as each and every bad delivery from the Sri Lankan quicks and spinners was smashed and in the meantime, Vijay brought up his 10th Test century, making him the 4th Indian opener to do so.
Vijay didn’t show mercy on any opposition bowler in his innings of 128 runs in 221 balls with 11 fours and 1 six. He along with Pujara added 209 runs for the second wicket. Rangana Herath dismissed Vijay off a full toss, which Vijay swept straight into the hands of short fine leg.
Then came the skipper Virat Kohli, who scored a century in his last Test innings in Kolkata and joined Pujara on the crease only to score runs at faster pace. Virat ended the day on a high with 54* in 70 balls. On the other hand, Pujara brought up his 14th Test century and 3rd against Sri Lanka in Tests this year. He ended the day on 121* off 284 balls with 13 boundaries to his name.
Sri Lankan bowlers weren’t consistent with their line and lengths as they were not able to penetrate the defenses of Vijay and Pujara. They bowled with a plan, but the plan was too defensive for the Indian batsmen as they kept on scoring runs.
The Islanders took the new ball and wasted it, feeding the wrong line to Kohli, who mercilessly kept hitting it to leg side boundaries. They can look forward to another torturous day On Sunday as India still has 8 wickets in hand and batsman like Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma are yet to come. While India might be looking to increase their lead at a faster pace on the third day and make Sri Lanka bat on Day 3 itself.
The hosts might also be looking wrap up the proceedings before the lunch of Day 4, a target which doesn’t feel too far to be achieved.
Bried Scores:
1st Inns: Sri Lanka 205 – (D Chandimal 57; R Ashwin 4/67) trails India – 312/2 in 98 overs (M Vijay 128, C Pujara 121*) by 107 runs.
