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Editor's Pick (Test): India - Sri Lanka

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Now while newspapers do tend to exaggerate, there must be something in it if most of them called the match ‘exciting’. It was an exciting match.
As it happened
India was all out for 172. That was a complete shock to what is considered to be some of the best audience in India - Kolkata. Sri Lanka was feeling pretty happy then. They had elected to bowl and they got the hosts out for a pretty low score. They came in to bat with a lot of confidence. Probably overconfidence. They did bat well. Better than the Indians anyway. And managed 294 on the board. Fifties from three batsman did the trick.
When India came back for the second innings, they really pulled up their socks. First things first. Score 122 to match up. Then hit hard and give them a solid target. SL now had to hit 231 to win. It seemed easy considering their first innings score. But nope. All that overconfidence I tell you.
First wicket fell for no runs in the first over. Second for 2 runs. Third for 14. 4th for 22. Five, six and seven by the time 75 runs on board. Now the visitors’ wickets were falling faster than ever. They were totally rattled. Indians had them. India had one foot on the finishing line.
Umpires meet. Light meters out. Not bright enough to continue.
Match was declared as a draw.
Sri Lanka heaved a sigh of relief. They were pretty sure that they were gonna lose too.  
This match totally had all of us hooked. First it looked like India was out. Then a draw. Then SL looked on top. Then draw. Then India took all those wickets in the final innings of the match. Now finally a draw thanks to bad light.
Questions were raised. Did Kohli delay the declaration? Was it his call or Coach Shastri? What did you think?
There was a lot of brilliant performances. Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Mohammed Shami. Umesh Yadav. Virat Kohli. Pujara. Lakmal.

Let’s take a look at the upcoming match.
News - Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Shikhar Dhawan have been released from India's Test squad against Sri Lanka on personal grounds, the BCCI announced on Monday. While Bhuvneshwar has pulled out for the remainder of the Test series, Dhawan will be available for selection for the third Test, which starts from December 2 in Delhi.
M Vijay might get a turn. Ishant Sharma too. Vijay Shankar will be given a go because he can bowl medium pace. Hardik Pandya also out. Demanding conditions will ask for third and fourth seamer.
While the Eden Gardens pitch was designed keeping in mind India’s next tournament with South Africa, Nagpur pitch will also have similar conditions. More grass. Seamers will get all the help possible. Jadeja and Ashin - our spinners will need practice too.

My lineup
Batsmen
Virat Kohli
Murali Vijay
Lokesh Rahul
C Pujara
Bowlers
Suranja Lakmal
Ishant Sharma
R Ashwin
Wicket-keepers
N Dickwella
W Saha
All-Rounders
Angelo Mathews
D Perera
What do you think?
Indu

P.S. Please note that the above-expressed opinions are purely the Editor’s. We do not take responsibility, nor can we guarantee the performance of the players. All the best !!!

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