5 Talking Points from India-Sri Lanka Second Test
In many ways, this was the perfect Test match. India levelled the series 1-1 and Virat Kohli won his first Test as captain after having come close twice before. There are good signs for Indian cricket as the team was relatively young. Kumar Sangakkara played his last Test international making the game really memorable.After losing at Galle, India really came back harder and fought tougher at Colombo showing the spirit and aggression of which there was plenty of pre-series talk. In many ways, this was also the viewers’ match giving them everything they would like to see in a Test. In fact, this series is turning out to be quite an intensely interesting one between two relatively young sides.India won the match eventually by a massive margin of 278 runs and Lokesh Rahul took home the Man of the Match ahead of Ajinkya Rahane and Ravichandran Ashwin for his first innings century. It is also advantage India considering there will not be a Sangakkara at No.3 in the third Test encouraging Indians to go for the jugular.The Test match has thrown up several interesting aspects that need to be discussed before we move on to the previews of the third and Final Test. There are things which need to be observed, pointed out and analysed as well, for these are interesting days in Test cricket.All the five Ashes Tests produced results, one-sided ones at that and now both the Tests between India and Sri Lanka have given us results as well. The Sri Lanka-Pakistan series played before this ended 2-1 in Pakistan’s favour, showing that the modern style of playing cricket is ensuring more results. Whether batsman and bowlers are producing same quality of cricket is a debate for another day.Let us look at some of the talking points of this Test.
#1 Fans bid adieu to Kumar Sangakkara
Sport doesn’t give everyone a great farewell. Some don’t even know when they have played their last Test. A lot of legends waited too long to hang their boots and have missed farewells. Then there are masters like Kumar Sangakkara and Sachin Tendulkar whose swansongs are mellifluous, who walk into the twilights with much fanfare.
Sangakkara got a Guard of Honour from the Indian team twice. Their admiration for him was obvious in the way they heartily congratulated him in true sportsman spirit. His teammates couldn’t exactly give him the perfect farewell by winning the Test and the series, although they did pull off a stunner at Galle in the first Test.
There were some wonderful words spoken but none more endearing or wiser than that of the man himself, when he thanked one and all, coaches, friends, staff, players and even the opponents from India who gave him a tough contest every single time, in a choked emotional and tearful speech.
Sangakkara’s performances though were not up to the high standards he had set. He managed scores of 5, 40, 32 and 18 falling to Ravichandran Ashwin every time, showing the difficulty of adjusting between Sri Lanka and Surrey where he has been playing county cricket. He would have liked to score more.
The stage was set for him to score a big one and thwart India with a miracle that everyone hoped for. He seemed in sublime touch too, but Ashwin was once again at his best. There were a lot of images that will forever remain etched in the fans’ hearts as the last great of the golden generation comprising of Sachin, Mahela, Dravid, Laxman, Ponting, Lara and Kallis bides farewell to cricket.
Cricket has been richer for these legends and now there is an obvious chasm!