After winning the first test by 304 runs, the Indian Cricket team would be looking to seal the series with the second test to be played at SSC, Colombo starting from tomorrow. It was a dominating performance by Men in Blue who won the match within four days. In the first test, winning the toss India batted first and scored a massive 600 runs with contributions from Dhawan, Pujara, Rahane, Ashwin, and debutant, Hardik Pandya.
All the Indian bowlers did a great job dismissing Sri Lanka for 291 in the first innings; Virat Kohli did not enforce the follow on. In the second innings, captain Kohli scored a century and Mukund scored 81 runs to give Sri Lanka a mammoth 550 runs target. It was a great job by Indian bowlers in the second innings too bowling as Sri Lanka did not have Hearth and Gunaranthe to bat. India won the first test by 304 runs.
With the second test starting from tomorrow, KL Rahul will be making a comeback into the playing XI. This means that either Shikhar Dhawan or Abhinav Mukund has to make way. The rest of batting order remains same with Pujara, Kohli, Rahane, Saha as the batsmen while Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, and Ravichandran Ashwin form a strong batting line up.
The bowling department might remain the same as Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav did a decent job. With the pitch helpful for fast bowlers, the Indian team would like to add another fast bowler in form of Bhvuneshwar Kumar.
As far as Sri Lanka is concerned, Dinesh Chandimal is set to lead the side after missing the first test due to pneumonia. The batting order apart from Tharanga, Mathews, and Perera in the first innings, Karunathe with 97 in the second innings could not perform well. They have included Lahiru Thirimanne in the squad who will make a comeback into the test squad after a gap of 13 months.
Lahiru Thirimanne played his last test match in 2016 against England. Left arm spinner Lakshan Sandakan is also added to the squad. The veteran spinner Rangana Herath hurt his finger in the first test. The team management said that they have to wait until the morning of the test match. Their fast bowler Lakmal is also ruled out due to back injury. If Sri Lanka is to give fight, they have to play positive cricket.
It is going to be an interesting battle if Sri Lanka could give a fight or India continues their domination. The toss will play an important role as winning the toss might give the team a slight advantage.
On the eve of a press conference ahead of the second test Kohli said, “KL Has been our established opener so one of the openers (in the last Test) will have to make way for him. What he has done in the past few years for us has been very solid. He deserves to comeback and start fresh in Test cricket again. KL, according to me, will definitely comeback to the playing XI.”
