India’s new captain Rohit Sharma is targeting a clean sweep of Sri Lanka in the second Test, which begins on Saturday. India will be heavy favorites to remain unbeaten at home in pink-ball tests.
Rohit Sharma’s India will be strong favorites to maintain their perfect record in pink-ball Tests at home when the second Test against Sri Lanka begins on Saturday. If Sri Lanka doesn’t get their act together immediately when the two teams meet again in Bangalore, they will lose the first match of their two-match series 1-0. Ravindra Jadeja, the world’s best all-rounder, struck an unbroken 175 and claimed nine wickets in Rohit Sharma’s maiden Test match after taking over as captain from Virat Kohli in all formats earlier this year. There is no doubt about how good and strong Hitomi is as a tactician. ” In his leadership style, I observed a lot of human elements,” Ravichandran Ashwin, the off-spinner, remarked last week.
“He was concerned about everyone’s well-being because the engine room’s smooth operation depends on everyone’s self-assurance.”
According to Rohit, the hosts put up a “near-perfect” display.
For the first time in over a decade, India beat Bangladesh in just over two days during a five-day Test match under the lights.
India’s lowest Test total was 36 against Australia at the Adelaide Oval in December 2020.
Defeated England on two days at the world’s largest cricket stadium in Ahmedabad, India, last February, the squad returned to winning ways in a floodlit Test.
“Not putting up a fight”
Day-night Tests may be unexpected, as India’s captain Ravichandran Ashwin has cautioned.
Preparation for a pink-ball Test is difficult because you never know what to expect, he told the Board of Control for Cricket on India’s official website.
There have been three pink-ball tests so far, and each one has taught us something new.
With so many variables, we’ll just carry the confidence we gained from our last game into this one,” says the coach. It will be an interesting test, and I hope the spinners will have a voice in the outcome.”
Axar Patel, the left-arm spinner who took 11 wickets in India’s triumph over England, has been selected to the lineup in lieu of Kuldeep Yadav and might play in Bangalore.
In their three-day-night Tests, Sri Lanka has won two and lost one.
Despite Dimuth Karunaratne’s valiant efforts, the visitors could only muster 174 and 178 in response to India’s 574-8 declared in the opening Test.
“You are playing if the opposition withdraws or offers you a chance to play. Russel Arnold, a former Sri Lankan cricketer turned analyst, told cricket.com that if the opposition pushes you back, you aren’t fighting back.
What I see in Sri Lankan cricket is that and that comes down to the approach.
Lahiru Kumara’s hamstring injury on the first day of the Mohali Test means that the island nation will be without a speed bowler for the rest of the match.
