When India began day four on 23-1 with 153 runs to win in the first Test at Galle, all were wary that it wasn’t going to be a walk in the park. What followed was nothing short of spectacular. Sri Lanka pulled off a 63-run heist from the doldrums as just 24 hours before the final wicket fell, Sri Lanka looked like losing quite comfortably.
Sri Lanka record dramatic 63-run win over India
A target of 176 was never going to be easy on a tricky wicket against some top-class spinners. It proved to be so. India capitulated and were bowled out for 112, still 64 runs short of what seemed a certain win for the first three days of the Test. As is the case when something extraordinary like this happens in sport, especially under such spectacular circumstances, there are plenty of talking points: Countless umpiring errors, the team composition, the ideal batting order for India and so on.
India’s prominent batting line-up buckled under pressure and collapsed like a pack of cards as left-arm spinner Rangana Herath bamboozled the batsmen and ended with figures of seven for 48. The embarrassing 63-run defeat came inside four days despite India appearing likely winners until the final session of Day 3.
“We have no one to blame but ourselves,” said Kohli at the post-match presentation ceremony. “One bad session turned the match around. Credit to how the Sri Lankans came back and especially to (Dinesh) Chandimal who batted really well in the second innings.”
Chandimal — Man-of-the-Match for his unbeaten 162 in the second innings — was the architect of Sri Lanka’s fightback. His knock helped his side set a target of 176 for the Indians. The highest successful fourth innings chase at Galle International Stadium was 99/3 (Sri Lanka against Pakistan) and the task for India’s batsmen was always challenging.
India came into bat with 176 runs more to win, for only their fifth victory in a Test in Sri Lanka and Kohli said the team had been let down by their batting. “There are no excuses there. The need of the hour in the second innings was to take calculated risk when you are chasing a small total in the fourth innings. Our intent was lacking. We let the opposition in today,” Kohli said. He said of the dressing room: “everyone is disappointed… throughout the game we dominated and it is disappointing to be on the losing side.”
Virat Kohli stated the example of the Sri Lankan second innings when five down and trailing by more than 100, saying: “This was a classic case of people going out there and being fearless and our display was a classic case of people going out there and being tentative. The approach was the major difference is us losing the game because we only had, apart from the way we batted today, an hour and a half which was bad in the game for us yesterday. Throughout the game, we dominated and it feels strange to be on the losing side but that is, sadly or unfortunately, Test cricket. You play one bad session and then you could be lagging behind in the race.”
He did not talk about the umpiring decisions just before lunch on day three. Nor did he agree that the three decisions, two against Man-of-the-Match Dinesh Chandimal and one against Lahiru Thirimane that helped Sri Lanka set up a partnership to that eventually proved to be match-deciding.
“Well, not at all,” Kohli said. “I don’t want to speak about things that we cannot control, we kept bowling in the right areas and their batsmen took calculated risks and some risks that had some chances came off. Credit to them, they were able to think clearly.”
Virat Kohli also encountered questions about the selection of Rohit Sharma in the XI and said that he had been picked because “you have to back your best players.” He countered,” People that you think can be match-winners for you, you have to back them. Cheteshwar [Pujara] was going through a phase where he wasn’t getting too many runs. So it was a case of giving another batsman a chance. Right now, Rohit has got three-four chances at No. 3. The idea has to been to persist with him.”
The last 24 hours for India in this Test match essentially undid the work that had gone before it. On day three, when faced with Dinesh Chandimal’s counter-attacking innings, Indian bowlers were unable to defend or pick quick wickets to halt Sri Lanka’s quick progress. On day four, even when presented with Chandimal’s counter-attacking innings as an outline, they were unable to attack.
Ajinkya Rahane realised late in the innings the importance of the cliché,” The best form of defence is attack”, and started sweeping and driving with exuberance and confidence. Even Amit Mishra, who was praised by Kohli as the second best batsman for India in their dismal second innings effort was able to get boundaries when he gave the spinners the charge. All that, in the end, proved to be too little too late. The damage was done in the first hour.
However ironic it may sound, on Independence Day, India paid the price for not batting with freedom.
