India continued to push for a massive victory in the second and final Test being played at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore with the pink cricket ball on Sunday, reducing the visiting side Sri Lanka to 28/1 after setting a huge target of 447 runs. For India, Jasprit Bumrah, Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer produced spectacular performances to keep their side ahead while Sri Lanka continued to fight despite fighting fires on many fronts on Sunday, as they have been throughout this tour.
Bumrah recorded his first-ever five-wicket haul in India and in day-night Test cricket matches as he returned with spectacular numbers of 10-4-24-5 while Ravichandran Ashwin and Mohammed Shami took 2 wickets each and Akshar Patel claimed 1 to pull Sri Lanka out for a poor total of 109 in their first innings, in reply to India’s 252.
Sri Lanka had resumed first innings at a dangerous position of 86/6, trailing by another 166 runs when play started on the second day of the match on Sunday. However, Bumrah, who had taken 3 wickets on the first day evening, added 2 more to his overall tally to record its first ever five wicket haul on Indian soil in Test cricket to help his side take a big lead of 143 runs in the first innings.
India began the second innings on a positive note with Mayank Agarwal and Rohit Sharma adding 42 runs for the first wicket in about 11 overs to keep their side rolling. Agarwal did well to score 22 from 34 balls with the help of five boundaries but he could not convert his starts into a big score. Indian captain Rohit Sharma fell 4 runs short of his first half-century as the leader of the side, being dismissed by Sri Lanka spinner Dhananjaya de Silva for 46 from 79 balls with four boundaries.
India No 3 Hanuma Vihari also failed to convert a start into anything substantial, being cleaned up by Sri Lanka spinner Praveen Jayawickrama for 35 from 79 balls with four boundaries as well. The former India captain Virat Kohli continued to have a hard time against Sri Lankan spinners, as this time Jayawickrama rapped him on the pads and Kohli walked away having scored 13 from 15 balls.
The wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant created history on Sunday evening in Bangalore, smashing the fastest ever half-century for any Indian batsman in history, bringing up 50 runs from only 28 balls. Pant enjoyed batting against the Sri Lankan spinners in particular hitting seven boundaries and two sixes in the process to make 50 from 31 balls.
Shreyas Iyer continued to make all the important runs as he contributed with a vital 67 from 87 balls with nine fours to push India’s overall lead past the 400-run mark. He was well supported by all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, who made 22 from 45 balls with three boundaries.
India declared their first second innings at 303/9, thus setting an overall target of 447 runs for Sri Lanka to win, who lost Lahiru Thirimanne for a duck and reach 28/1 from seven overs when play was called off for the day. Sri Lanka have a mountainous challenge ahead of them as they need to score 419 runs more to win from the remaining three days of this match.
