Sports
Dazzling in Delhi, Sri Lankan style
by Rex Clementine
India have yet again stamped their authority in Delhi as Australia lost the plot sweeping their way to disaster in the second Test.Delhi has been an absolute fortress of Indian cricket as of the 13 Tests they have played here since 1987, India have won 11 Tests and the remaining two have been drawn. One of those draws involved Sri Lanka when they played in 2017.
Strangely, since 2017, Delhi hasn’t hosted a Test match until this one. That gives you an idea about how Indian cricket politics work. India used to have five major cricket centers; Bombay, Calcutta, Bangalore, Madras and Delhi. But these power bases have now ceased to exist. Hard to think that apart from Delhi none of the other major four cricket centers failed to get a Test match against the Aussies. Ahmedabad has now become the stronghold of Indian cricket. Wonder why? It’s the state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and cricket’s most powerful man Jay Shah hails from there.
Going back to the Delhi Test involving Sri Lanka, it was an absolute cracker. The tourists played out of their skins to earn a hard-fought draw.
Prior to the Delhi Test, Sri Lanka had played in Nagpur and were handed an innings and 239 run defeat, their worst in history. Against that backdrop, raising the game in Delhi was no mean task.
The Delhi wicket keeps low and turns square and against an attack comprising Ravi Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, the batsmen have their work cut out. The bowling is quite formidable but the conditions in Delhi make things tougher. There’s obviously the smog and the polluted air that make you sick unless you take the necessary precautions. Even if you take all the precautions, vomiting in night and feeling lethargic by the end of the day are common factors in Delhi.
In the first innings, Angelo Mathews scored a hundred and captain Dinesh Chandimal ended with a top score of 164 to help Sri Lanka get closer to 400 runs.
India declared their second innings on the penultimate day with 17 overs to go leaving Sri Lanka with an improbable target of 410 runs. Realistically, the tourists were looking to survive three sessions and an hour. When they lost three wickets in the last hour of day four, there was very little hope. But Dhananjaya de Silva in his new role of number three gave fresh hopes with a century.
But with two sessions remaining India just needed five wickets and they were fancying their chances. Then came a fine rearguard action from a man on debut – Roshen Silva.
When Roshen was finally given his Test cap in Delhi 2017, he had already played in over 100 First Class matches. Every time there was an opportunity for him to make his Test debut, he was denied a chance on some flimsy grounds. Delhi was an opportunity to sink or swim for him and he played so well to save the game against many odds. If you see the Aussies play spin in Delhi, it’s all about sweeps. But Roshen’s game was entirely different. He trusted his defence. Being aggressive against spin is a method modern-day players employ to ensure a spinner doesn’t get settled and find his groove. But in the case of Roshen, it was just old-fashioned grinding.
Roshen wasn’t alone in this act. He had got of all people Niroshan Dickwella to hang around with him and stitch a 94 run unbroken partnership.As the game headed to the last hour, there came a temptation from Dickwella. ‘Listen, we need 110 runs in 15 overs. We have already lost the series. It doesn’t matter if we lose 1-0 or 2-0. But if we chase this down, we’ll create history by winning our first Test match in India,’ Dickwella told Roshen. But here was a man who knew how quickly things can change in cricket, especially against an attack that had Ashwin, Jadeja. Shami and Ishant. So he decided to close shop.
With Roshen not buying into his argument, Dickwella came up with a counteroffer. ‘Not many have scored hundreds on debut. Maybe you should go for one and take the selectors to take note,’ he said.Roshen, however, was happy to remain unbeaten on 74 knowing too well that things tend to happen so fast in India.It was one of Sri Lanka’s best tours of India as the team drew two Tests digging deep and fighting so hard. It’s a pity that temperamentally sound players like Roshen never got the long rope.
One time is a shock. Two times, and the second to beat hosts Sri Lanka at their own game, is Zimbabwe. Led by their canny bowling, Zimbabwe pulled Sri Lanka back from a flying start to keep them to 178 on a sluggish Premadasa track. Their opener Brian Benett, quickest scorer in their history, dropped anchor, stayed unbeaten like his team, and Sikandar Raza, Ryan Burl and Tadiwanashe Marumani did all the damage from the other end to seal their second-highest successful T20I chase.
Sri Lanka’s innings had three neat divisions: first 29 balls for 54 for 0, next 72 for 82 for 4 and then a finishing kick of 42 for 3 off the last 19 balls. Zimbabwe went Bennett and non-Bennett. Bennett scored 63 off 48; the other three combined for 102 off 64 balls. Raza was the decisive hand: 45 off 26 after the asking rate had gone past 11.
Brief scores:
Zimbabwe 182 for 4 in 19.3 overs (Brian Bennett 63*, Tadiwanashe Marumani 34, Ryan Burl 23, Sikandar Raza 45; Dasun Shanaka 1-26, Dushan Hemantha 2-36, Dunith Wellalage 1-27) beat Sri Lanka 178 for 7 in 20 overs (Pathum Nissanka 62, Kusal Perera 22, Kusal Mendis 14, Pavan Rathnayake 44, Dunith Wellalage 15*; Blessing Muzarabani 2-38, Graeme Cremer 2-27, Brad Evans 2-35) by six wickets
[Cricinfo]
West Indies headed into the Super Eight of the T20 World Cup unbeaten after successfully defending 165 against Italy at Eden Gardens on Thursday. Spinners Chrishan Kalugamage and Ben Manenti impressed with the ball, and were backed up by some sharp fielding, but the batters couldn’t get the Italian job done.
While Italy exited their maiden World Cup with a win against Nepal and many memories to cherish, West Indies sealed their fourth successive win at the venue where they will face India in their final Super Eight fixture on March 1.
Italy may have sensed an opportunity for another win when they stifled West Indies’ power-packed middle order, but Marrhew Forde’s twin strikes in the powerplay decisively tilted the game in West Indies’ favour. Bowling three overs on the bounce, Forde dismissed both Justin Mosca and No. 3 Syed Naqvi, helping West Indies restrict Italy to 37 for 3 in six overs. Shamar Joseph then bagged four wickets to go with his four catches as Italy were bowled out for 123.
The win was set up by Shai Hope, who hit back-to-back half-centuries and dominated the early exchanges with an array of off-side drives. West Indies lost steam after Hope departed for 75 off 46 balls, but they regained it through their bowlers.
After West Indies were asked to bat first, they hit seven boundaries in the powerplay, and Hope was responsible for all of those. By the eighth over, the West Indies captain had zoomed to a 28-ball half-century. The first boundary by a West Indies player not named “Shai Hope” came in the tenth over when Roston Chase backed away and lifted left-arm spinner JJ Smuts over extra-cover.
Hope peppered the off side, scoring 46 of his 75 runs in that region. Anything that was remotely full and outside off was crashed in the arc between mid-off and point. When Italy dragged their lengths back, Hope was ready for it as well. Like when left-arm seamer Ali Hasan banged one into his upper body, Hope swatted him away over square leg for six in the fourth over. Hope was particularly severe on right-arm fast bowler Thomas Draca, taking him for 20 off nine balls.
Italy finally stopped him in the 16th over when legspinner Kalugagame bowled him with a tossed-up wrong’un.
Brief scores:
West Indies 165 for 6 in 20 overs (Shai Hope 75, Roston Chase 24, Sherfane Rutherford 24*, Matthew Forde 16*; Ali Hasan 1-24, Thomas Draca 1-22, Chrishan Kalugamage 2-25, Ben Manenti 2-37) beat Italy 123 in 18 overs (Anthony Mosca 19, JJ Smuts 24, Ben Manenti 26, Grant Stewart 12; Akeal Hosein 1-25, Shamar Joseph 4-30, Matthew Forde 3-19, Gudakesh Motie 2-24) by 42 runs
[Cricinfo]
Sri Lanka won the toss at the party at Premadasa and decided to bat first. Both, the hosts and Zimbabwe, are through to the Super Eight already, but for Sri Lanka it was important to get in their injury replacements.
The big one, of course, was Matheesha Pathirana, whose tournament ended with a calf injury sustained during the match against Australia. His replacement in the squad, Dilshan Madushanka, came straight into the XI. Also given a look-in was Pramod Madushan, the fast bowler who was already in the squad. In order to organise this virtual bowl-off between Madushan and Madushanka, Sri Lanka rested their lead fast bowler Dushmantha Chameera.
Zimbabwe made no change to the XI that shocked Australia in this World Cup. They were looking to bowl first anyway because of the forecast for some drizzle later on, and hoping to bat in better batting conditions once the lights came on.
Sri Lanka: Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Perera, Kusal Mendis (wk), Pavan Rathnayake, Dasun Shanaka (capt), Kamindu Mendis, Dunith Wellalage, Dushan Hemantha, Maheesh Theekshana, Pramod Madushan, Dilshan Madushanka
Zimbabwe: Brian Bennett, Tadiwanashe Marumani (wk), Dion Myers, Sikandar Raza (capt), Ryan Burl, Tony Munyonga, Tashinga Musekiwa, Brad Evans, Wellington Masakadza, Graeme Cremer, Blessing Muzarabani
[Cricinfo]
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