India vs Sri Lanka Live Score, 2nd Test, Day 2: India’s openers off to positive start after SL scores 109

Welcome to Sportstar‘s LIVE coverage of Day 2 of the second Test between India and Sri Lanka in Bengaluru.

Vishwa Fernando into the attack. Full, on leg-stump, helped on its way by Agarwal. Four runs.

India 23/0 in 7 overs- Full delivery from Lakmal. Driven down the ground for a couple of runs by Rohit. Then a punch off the back-foot for no run.

Praveen Jayawickrama, who fielded the ball at point, is in pain. He’s clutching his right knee. Medical support arrives for him, and he is being taken off the field. Sri Lanka will hope he will recover soon as he’s one of the team’s main spinners. Took three wickets in the first innings.

Chamika Karunaratne has come on as a substitute.

Meanwhile, Lakmal bowls short, and Rohit pulls. The fielder at deep square leg runs to deep midwicket to prevent the ball from going over the boundary. He dives and scrambles. Two runs.

India 18/0 in 6 overs- Lakmal bowls another tight over. Another maiden.

First boundary for India, in the second innings. Mayank gets a full delivery and he drives it fiercely, using the strength of his bottom hand, to pick up four runs through extra cover. Embuldeniya bowling full, outside or on off-stump. Lots of flight.

First runs off Lakmal in this spell. Agarwal guides the ball through third man for a four. Short of a length again, in the corridor.

Expensive third over from Embuldeniya. Rohit cuts a short ball for four, sweeps twice for a total of four runs.

India 1/0 in 2 overs- India’s openers come out to bat. Mayank Agarwal and Rohit Sharma. Rohit has a short chat with Angelo Mathews about something. Two slips and a gully for Lakmal, who is bowling in the final bowling innings of his Test career.

Good length, in the corridor to Agarwal in the first over. It’s a maiden.

It’s spin, in the second over itself. Embuldeniya to bowl to Rohit. Two slips and a forward short leg in place. Rohit drives a full delivery and picks up a single; it’s partially stopped by short cover.

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Jasprit Bumrah has a five-wicket haul, his first in Tests in India. He bowled with pace but used his variations his effectively to pick those wickets.

Shami and the spinners – in particular, Ashwin – played their part, too.

SL 109 in 35.5 overs- Suranga Lakmal is not wasting any time. He slogs to the leg side to pick up four runs off Ashwin. Next delivery, he is foxed by a leg-spinner from Ashwin – BOWLED. Sri Lanka eight down now.

Suranga Lakmal b Ashwin 5 (9b, 1×4)

Bumrah resumes, gets rid of Dickwella! It’s a bouncer at the throat; the batter bends to evade it but ends up parrying the ball to the keeper. Well no exactly – it just touches the gloves en route.

Niroshan Dickwella c Pant b Bumrah 21 (38b, 3×4)

Vishwa Fernando survives a testing over, playing out the rest of the deliveries. It’s a wicket-maiden. He digs out a yorker, and defends a slower ball.

Fernando hitting out. He is slog-sweeping Ashwin. A full delivery is dispatched to the extra cover boundary. But Ashwin has the last laugh- he bowls a carrom ball slower through the air, Fernando attempts a stroke but misses and is stumped. All this while, Rishabh Pant from behind the stumps has been asking Ashwin to bowl it slower, and it worked. Sri Lanka bowled out for 109. It’s a 143-run lead for the Indian team.

Vishwa Fernando st Pant b Ashwin 8 (8b, 1×4)

SL 96/7 in 33 overs- A swarm of insects on the stadium is delaying the start of play on day two. Bumrah with the pink ball. To bowl to Dickwella. It’s a boundary first up as he steers the ball through the gap between point and third slip.

Action replay. Next ball is similar. Slightly more bounce on this one. Steered away for another boundary. Bumrah bowls fuller in the rest of the over; off one of the deliveries, Dickwella attempts a drive but misses.

Ashwin bowls the second over. A single from it. Referral taken by India as Ashwin’s delivery turns past the bat of Dickwella. No edge on it.

Lasith Embuldeniya tries to pull a delivery from Bumrah and pays the price; it’s a top edge, and the wicketkeeper makes no mistake. SL seven down.

Lasith Embuldeniya c Pant b Bumrah 1 (16b)

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“As the day progressed, the pitch got better to bat on. And under lights the ball swung a bit. Today, we’ll keep it simple and maintain a good line and length, and the pitch will do the rest.”

– Rishabh Pant

REPORT, DAY 1

Shreyas Iyer’s 92 shone bright on a treacherous M Chinnaswamy pitch where 16 wickets fell on day one of the pink-ball Test between India and Sri Lanka in Bengaluru on Saturday.

The Mumbai batter top-scored in India’s 252 all-out. In response, at stumps, Sri Lanka was tottering at 86/6.

India began the bowling with Jasprit Bumrah and R Ashwin. Bumrah got Kusal Mendis caught at third slip with an outswinger and in his very next over, had Lahiru Thirimanne nicking to third slip again.

After just a two-over spell from Ashwin, Rohit Sharma turned to Mohammed Shami, who clean bowled Dimuth Karunaratne with a in-dipper to leave Sri Lanka 14 for 3. He had his second when he trapped Dhananjaya de Silva in front. Axar Patel then removed Charith Asalanka and Bumrah nipped out Angelo Mathews to put the host side in the ascendancy.

READ-
IND vs SL- The 50 was like a century, says Shreyas Iyer

Earlier, on a square-turner with inconsistent bounce, Iyer gave a stunning exhibition of his defensive technique, batting almost risk-free — he was dropped on 50,68 and 82— from the first ball. Iyer was stumped just eight short of what would have been a sensational hundred in trying conditions.

His unerring selection and execution of his attacking strokes made it a connoisseur’s delight. But three strokes captured the essence of his batting. The first one was a drive between extra cover and mid-off off Lasith Embuldeniya for four. The second was a six over midwicket off Dhananjaya de Silva that took him from 37 to 43. The last, a straight six against a turning ball from P. Jayawickrama, after he had brought up his 50 off just 54 balls.

AS IT HAPPENED-
India vs Sri Lanka 2nd Test, Day 1, highlights- Shreyas, Bumrah make it India’s day

Rohit won the toss and chose to bat. There was a huge lbw appeal against Mayank Agarwal off an in-swinger early on. Given not-out initially, Agarwal decided to steal a run as the ball rolled over to the vacant cover region. Agarwal, halfway down the pitch despite Rohit’s apparent disinterest, was unable to beat Jayawickrama’s throw. It was a lucky escape for Sri Lanka since had it reviewed, Agarwal would’ve been not-out as he had got an inside edge and it was a no-ball.

Given the dry nature of the wicket, Embuldeniya was introduced inside the first 10 overs and he struck in his second over. At 2-50 pm, Rohit offered a simple chance to gully. The moment the ball landed in Dhananjay’s hands, a near-capacity crowd, most of them screaming, rose to their feet. There walked Virat Kohli, amid raucous chants of “Virat, Virat!”. His first scoring shot was a scorching cover-drive off Embuldeniya.

Sri Lanka switched to spin from both ends in the 13th over with Jayawickrama coming on. Hanuma Vihari, meanwhile, prioritised defence and made sure he didn’t get beaten on the inside edge by the straighter balls. He played well for his 31 before Jayawickrama got one to grip, turn and bounce, and Niroshan Dickwella took a sharp catch behind the stumps.

With left-handed Rishabh Pant coming ahead of Shreyas Iyer, off-spinner Dhananjaya was summoned. He immediately got Kohli out lbw for 23 with one that turned from outside off and kept low to hit his front pad.

At 86 for 4, Pant expectantly changed the tempo of the innings with a 26-ball 39, studded with seven fours, but was clean bowled by Embuldeniya shortly after the tea break. Embuldeniya had his third wicket when he got Ravindra Jadeja gloving to slip with one that turned and cramped the batter for room. Ashwin, Axar Patel and Shami fell in quick session but Iyer ensured India didn’t feel the pinch of the late fall of wickets.

Sri Lanka further helped the cause by allowing Iyer to farm the strike with ease in the company of last man Bumrah. The opposition spinners were also guilty of offering a buffet of half-volleys and half-trackers on a helpful wicket and paid the price.

– Ayan Acharya

TEAMS (from)

India- Rohit Sharma (c), Mayank Agarwal, Priyank Panchal, Shreyas Iyer, Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hanuma Vihari, S. Bharat (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, R. Ashwin, Axar Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Saurabh Kumar, Jayant Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami.

Sri Lanka- Dimuth Karunaratne (c), Dhananjaya de Silva (vc), Angelo Mathews, Charith Asalanka, Kusal Mendis, Pathum Nissanka, Lahiru Thirimanne, Dinesh Chandimal (wk), Niroshan Dickwella (wk), Lasith Embuldeniya, Vishwa Fernando, Praveen Jayawickrama, Chamika Karunaratne, Lahiru Kumara, Suranga Lakmal, Dushmantha Chameera, Jeffrey Vandersay.