Thursday’s slow winding down of the second Test, had shades of the 1980s. Back then as the game stretched into the mandatory overs of the fifth day, Sunil Gavaskar or a Javed Miandad would wheel their arm over.
The stalemate here and Bangladesh’s heroics at Darwin and the eventual 1-1 verdict in the series Down Under, has further affected India, placed fifth in the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) points table. During the course of this game at the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) Ground, a charity match in another venue had featured Arjuna Ranatunga and Aravinda de Silva. Just as nostalgia’s waves drenched the Sri Lankan cricketing fraternity, a hint of batting evolution was also underlined by the magnificent Sonal Dinusha. The two-Test away series in New Zealand and the five games against Australia in the Indian backyard, have become must-win options for Gill’s men. If recency-bias forces a closer scrutiny over events at the SSC, it would be prudent to recall that India’s inexplicable vulnerability at home, like the loss to South Africa, had a bearing on the team’s position in the WTC cycle. While Rishabh Pant and Dhruv Jurel made vital contributions with the bat, the no-balls peddled by the spinners, specifically Ravindra Jadeja, and the altercation between Jaiswal and Asitha Fernando, were all a cause for worry. The road ahead is critical and coach Gautam Gambhir and Gill have to forge a squad that will prosper both at home and away.