Colombo, Aug 23 — An eventful, hard-fought opening session saw India reach 88/2 in 25 overs at lunch on day one of the second Test against Sri Lanka at the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) Ground on Sunday.
It was a session where Sri Lanka took out both India openers, while Yashasvi Jaiswal was involved in a heated player exchange with pacer Asitha Fernando, something which can attract a huge fine for him from match referee Andy Pycroft. With Devdutt Padikkal and captain Shubman Gill unbeaten at the crease on 13 and 11 respectively, India will hope they can make it a big score.
Having elected to bat first after winning the toss, Jaiswal and KL Rahul made a steady start, though 30 of their opening stand of 37 runs came via boundaries mainly. Against the seamers who got enough seam movement, the modus operandi was to get boundaries via drives on fuller balls.
But Rahul was set up by short-pitched deliveries before nicking behind on a lazy cut off wicketkeeper Niroshan Dickwella on Lahiru Kumara’s bowling to fall for 18. Devdutt Padikkal joined Jaiswal but endured a nervous initiation. Before opening his account, Padikkal was dropped at backward point off Kumara as Sonal Dinusha failed to hold on to the catch.
Two overs later, Jaiswal earned a reprieve when captain Dhananjaya de Silva spilled a regulation chance at slip against off-spinner Keshara Nuwantha. At the other end, Jaiswal stepped up the aggression in the 17th over by dispatching Fernando for three consecutive boundaries - an elegant drive past mid-on was followed by a ramp over slip, and a swivel pull through backward square leg.
But Fernando had the last laugh on the final ball of the over by nipping one back off the seam to castle Jaiswal for 45. A fiery send-off from the pacer led to a tense and ugly face-to-face verbal altercation with Jaiswal, where a bit of shovelling and headbutting via Jaiswal’s helmet also happened.
De Silva then intervened and separated the two before Jaiswal walked off the field. Gill joined Padikkal and safely negotiated the remaining overs to take India to the lunch break without further damage.
Brief Scores: India 88/2 in 25 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 45, KL Rahul 18; Lahiru Kumara 1-19, Asitha Fernando 1-25) against Sri Lanka.