TimesofIndia.com in Colombo: The setting during the final hour resembled that of the second day. The sky suddenly darkened, and the ground staff took position as grey clouds began to gather over the stadium. As the end of the third day drew near and the teams walked off the field, never to return, the feeling was familiar, yet somehow different.On both days, Sri Lanka were in survival mode, but on Tuesday, they kept India on the field for the entire day. The visitors dragged themselves along with slumped shoulders as they toiled for over 80 overs and will have to pick themselves up again for what looks like more hard work to enforce the follow-on. And then put on a brave face for the win.“That’ll be first prize if we can get those two wickets tomorrow early,” said Morkel when asked about the team’s thinking regarding enforcing the follow-on.“With the weather around and sometimes the time it takes with taking the covers on and off, you know, we want to try and get as many overs as possible,” added India’s bowling coach.India had the ideal start on a very hot morning when Prasidh Krishna removed Kamil Mishra. Between the overs, the lanky fast bowler would often go down, holding his knees and catching that extra breath, but Shubman Gill never left his ear. The captain’s usage of Krishna was enough to understand his reading of the pitch and why he felt that the Karnataka bowler was going to be the key on this surface with the extra bounce. This was the same bounce the opposition pair of Lahiru Kumara and Asitha Fernando used to their advantage on the first two days.
India’s Prasidh Krishna and teammates celebrate the wicket of Sri Lanka’s Kamil Mishara on the third day of the second test match between India and Sri Lanka at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, in Colombo on Tuesday. (ANI Photo)
Even in short bursts, the fast bowlers found the conditions and the flat track hard work, but Krishna ran in hard to create opportunities for his captain. It wasn’t a surprise that Krishna took the second wicket in the morning session. He was rewarded for his persistent and consistent planning. After seeing the passage of play where every wicket came at a premium, the day also saw a period where two wickets fell in as many minutes off deliveries that shouldn’t have taken wickets.Pasindu Sooriyabandara played one Ravindra Jadeja ball back onto his own stumps, and Niroshan Dickwella edged an innocuous Mohammed Siraj delivery down the leg side to Dhruv Jurel. Within the space of three deliveries, Sri Lanka were seven down with the scoreboard reading 173, and panic would have triggered in the home dressing room. They had been sitting with their feet up at 122/3 close to Lunch.
Key message is whenever we’re playing Test cricket, it is a grind. As the boys walked in there, I said to them that it was a proper day of Test cricket, and this is how we’re going to learn.
Morne Morkel | Team India’s bowling coach
There were plenty of oohs and aahs between those two events, but India were made to work hard. The odd ball gripped, a fair few turned, but Sri Lanka adeptly countered the challenge posed by the trio of Manav Suthar, Ravindra Jadeja and Saransh Jain. India let the game drift away with open fields in the second session and then towards the end when Sonal Dinusha frustrated the visitors with the tail.The tail came back to sting India, again, but it hurt the most on Tuesday as it didn’t allow India another crack at Sri Lanka in fading light. For most of that period, the attention focused on getting rid of Lahiru, while Sonal continued his ways in a rather comfortable and open field setting. Result: They have already survived over 15 overs and look in no mood to throw their wickets away.
A ground staff member walks on rain covers deployed on the ground as rain stops play on day 3 of the 2nd Test match between India and Sri Lanka, at the Sinhalese Sports Club ground in Colombo on Tuesday. (ANI Photo)
For Morkel, it was a tough day of Test cricket, and he feels this experience will build character within the team for bigger challenges.“Key message is whenever we’re playing Test cricket, it is a grind. As the boys walked in there, I said to them that it was a proper day of Test cricket, and this is how we’re going to learn. We always talk about bowling and partnerships. We always talk about creating pressure, you know, and this is how you learn it… when there’s a partnership going, you can break it.“The key is to find that breakthrough, and then how well can you start your next 10, 15 balls to the next better. And that is the young guys coming in, that is what they are going to experience and I welcome conditions and tough times like this because that’s what builds character and that’s how you’re doing it great. So keep on rolling your best ball. That’s all the role in partnerships. And find ways to be creative to maybe get us that sneaky one. We’ve got lucky that we have 500 on the board,” said Morkel on the day India had.The equation and match situation is simple for India: Bowl out Sri Lanka as early as possible, enforce the follow-on and be ready to go hard at them again. There will be situations like the evening hour on both days, and it is up to the bowlers now to ensure they earn enough time to find those 12 wickets and seal a 2-0 series win.
