Player of the Match
Player of the Match
1859dThe Report by Nikhil Kalro

Rahul and Dhawan carry India into lead with ease

Both openers capitalised on vastly improved batting conditions, both overhead and underfoot, to lead India's recovery on the fourth day in Kolkata

Match Centre

Statistics

Best performances - Batsmen

V Kohli
V Kohli
104(119) 12x4 - 2x6
Control %85%
  • Productive Shot
  • off drive
  • 24 runs
  • 1x4 - 2x6
16 12 2 10 29 9 13 13
S Dhawan
S Dhawan
94(116) 11x4 - 2x6
Control %94%
  • Productive Shot
  • cover drive
  • 20 runs
  • 3x4 - 0x6
3 0 15 16 16 7 12 25

Best performances - Bowlers

B Kumar
B Kumar
O11
M8
R8
W4
Eco0.72
RHB
OFFLEG
1W
1W
  • FTFULL TOSS
  • YYORKER
  • FFULL LENGTH
  • GGOOD LENGTH
  • SGSHORT OF GOOD LENGTH
  • SSHORT LENGTH
LHB
LEGOFF
1W1W
RAS Lakmal
RAS Lakmal
O19
M12
R26
W4
Eco1.36
RHB
OFFLEG
2W1W
  • FTFULL TOSS
  • YYORKER
  • FFULL LENGTH
  • GGOOD LENGTH
  • SGSHORT OF GOOD LENGTH
  • SSHORT LENGTH
LHB
LEGOFF
1W

Scorecard Summary

INDIA 172(59.3 OVERS)
1ST INNINGS

SRI LANKA 294(83.4 OVERS)
1ST INNINGS

INDIA 352/8d(88.4 OVERS)
2ND INNINGS

SRI LANKA 75/7(26.3 OVERS)
2ND INNINGS

Scorer: Chandan Duorah | Commentator: Shashank Kishore

Phew. What an end to this Test. Lot of time lost to rain. This was effectively a three-day Test. Gosh, give me this day in and day out. More fun than watching your favourite batsmen stack up triple hundreds for fun. That exhibition of swing bowling from India and Lakmal is my moment of 2017. Hope you enjoyed our coverage. Until next time, it's goodbye from me, Shashank Kishore, and Alagappan Muthu. Cheers. Be well, Eden Gardens. Over to you, Jamtha.

Meanwhile, here's the pick of last week's stories from our sister site ESPN.in: wrestler Sushil Kumar's farcical comeback at the nationals, Dimitar Berbatov forgettable ISL debut, Saina Nehwal's nemesis and more.

Time for the presentation

Bhuvneshwar Kumar is the Player of the Match for his match haul of eight wickets. "Frankly speaking, it was tougher to bowl in the second innings as the surface was a lot drier," he says. "But the ball was reversing, so that helped. When I made my debut, I was totally dependent on swing. International circuit tells you what you need to improve on. I worked hard on my fitness and that is paying off. We believed we could win. Virat said 'Imagine we're in this situation overseas. If we get two-three wickets early, it won't be easy for them.'

Virat Kohli: It was important to make something out of the game with whatever time we had. Conditions changed drastically over the five days. We had to show character, having been on the backfoot on day one and day two. Credit to Sri Lanka. The team showed a lot of character. We didn't look at the batting collapse. We believed in our strengths. If you didn't have intent on this wicket, it would've been difficult to survive. That was the key. If we got enough good balls in the right areas, it would've been tough. All in all, we're proud of how we finished.

Kohli On Bhuvneshwar: his bowling has picked up pace, his ball is heavier than what it used to be. He grabs his chances every time he comes into the team. He's a massive contender to start in every Test for India, he'll be a vital part of our plans, especially overseas. As soon as we lost Wriddhi, me and Bhuvi started having fun. It was important to take our minds of the situation and the shots started coming off. Luckily they took the new ball. I decided, if we don't show intent, there may not be much to offer. So yeah, that helped. (50 international hundreds) feels good. It hasn't been a long journey yet. If I can step up and perform, that will give me more pleasure than thinking of the number of hundreds I have. That will remain the mindset till I play this game.

Dinesh Chandimal: In these kind of conditions, toss was crucial. We fought hard and competed well. Till the last session, we fought well and played as a team. Unfortunately, the last 10-15 overs brought a lot of pressure but we played good cricket and competed well. Lakmal is unbelievable, especially over the last one or two years. He's one who you can trust as a captain. Rangana scoring runs (laughs), he's a fighter, unfortunately spinners couldn't come into the game. We'll have to learn how to battle, especially in the second innings. In UAE also, we didn't bat well in the second innings against Pakistan. If we can do that, we can do a lot better.

Mahela Jayawardena tweets: Enjoyed @NiroshanDikka attitude and antics this afternoon. Good test match.. well played @imVkohli. Looking forward to the next one.

VVS Laxman: Inspite of rain washing out more than 180 overs,this was Test Match Cricket at it's best. Bhuvi and Shami were simply outstanding. Was a delight to watch an exhibition of top class bowling.

For the first time ever in India, the home spinners didn't pick a wicket in a Test. Amazing, isn't it?

If you're just joining us, you can dig into Nikhil Kalro's bulletin

Mohammed Shami: We had to put in the extra effort because time was less. The public also enjoyed it, I think. We were sure we'd be successful if we hit the right areas. In the first two days, it was bad for us. This is my home ground, so I knew if the sun comes out, the wicket will ease out. Hard luck that the sun went down early today. As I've played, I've gained a lot of experience and confidence. I continue to learn a lot from the ex players, who have given me the support.

4.30pm Virat Kohli's special century, his 50th in international cricket, brought the fire back for India after they slumped. There will be discussion and debates whether India had a case to declare earlier than they did, but there may not be much steam to that, because it was really the Kohli blitzkrieg after Saha's dismissal that helped India set the game up in the first place.

4.28pm Nigel Llong and Joel Wilson converge to check the light reading. They've had enough. They're going off, and the match is drawn. The light reading was set on the first day, so that is the benchmark they've to go by. Sri Lanka can breathe a sigh of relief. This has been a sensational display of fast bowling from India to bring life into a game that many assumed was dead when India declared with 30 overs and a bit to bowl potentially. The light you see on your TV screen is a lot brighter than it actually is. Artificial lights, for some reason, isn't considered good enough for red-ball cricket. And so, that's that. Sri Lanka, who were ahead in this Test for most parts of the five days, including at various stages today, will feel as if they've gotten out of jail. What a Test, what a finish. Three wickets, three deliveries. Sri Lanka will go to Nagpur 0-0 after they entertained prospects of a first Test win in India.

26.3
0
Mohammed Shami to Shanaka, no run, late inswing but he somehow manages to defend it back down despite being overbalanced
26.2
0
Mohammed Shami to Shanaka, no run, gets half forward and keeps out this incoming length ball without much hassle
26.1
0
Mohammed Shami to Shanaka, no run, back of length on off stump, defended

END OF OVER:
26 | (wicket maiden) | SL: 75/7

  • Rangana Herath0 (4b)
  • Dasun Shanaka6 (14b)
  • Bhuvneshwar Kumar11-8-8-4
  • Mohammed Shami9-4-34-2

Sri Lanka's physio comes in to attend to Rangana, but he's been sent off. Chandimal sheepishly smiles in the dressing room, knowing well it may just be to delay things

25.6
0
Kumar to Herath, no run, just about manages to jam his bat down in time to keep out that fast and furious yorker that was headed to the base of middle stump. Woah, woah, woah. Why, sun? Why? Why couldn't you stay out for longer?

Chandimal gestures saying he can't see. Nigel Llong brings out the light meter

25.5
0
Kumar to Herath, no run, right behind the line of this short of length ball as he defends

Bhuvi is actually sprinting back to his run up

25.4
0
Kumar to Herath, no run, swung away late, quite a long way too, as Herath watches this angle though to the keeper

Kohli's 50th

0

No. of batsman to score 50 centuries in International cricket in fewer inns than Kohli who got there in his 348th inns. Amla also took 348 inns for the same.

Lakmal's best

0

No. of times Lakmal had picked more than six wickets in a Test, before this in his 39 matches. Rahane's wicket in the second inns was his 7th wicket of the match.

On and on

9

No. of batsmen to bat on all 5 days of a Test, including Pujara this Test. He's the third among India batsman and all have done this at Eden Gardens.

After a long time

2010

Last occasion of India having a century opening stand in their 2nd inns of a Test, which was against SA in Centurion. Rahul and Dhawan have done that in this match.

Seamers 10, spinners 0

3

No. of instances of India fast bowlers picking all 10 wickets in a Test innings at home, including this match. The last such instance was in 1983-84 against West Indies at Ahmedabad and first v Eng, Mumbai, 1981-82.

Rare high for pacers

1986

Last instance of 3 India fast bowlers picking 2 or more wickets in the same innings of a home Test, as did Bhuvneshwar, Umesh and Shami in this game. Overall, this is only the 4th such occasion for India at home.

Sri Lanka leading

2010

Last time Sri Lanka gained first innings lead against India, before this match, which was in Galle. Since then India had got the lead in 8 Tests.

Ends a drought

12.09

Thirimanne's average in his last 11 Test innings, with highest of 22. He has scored a fifty in this match.

Second-lowest

1

No. of lower totals for India against Sri Lanka at home, than the 172 in this Test. The lowest is 167 in Chennai in 2005.

Mr. Consistent

13

Cheteshwar Pujara has made at least one 50+ score in 13 of the 17 Tests since the start of 2016-17 season.

Something rare

2010

Last instance of India losing first 5 wkts for 50 or fewer runs in a Test inns at home, before this match. That had happened against NZ at Ahmedabad. Overall, its the 17th instance at home and 5th in about last 30 years.

Dots, dots, dots

46

No. of deliveries bowled by Suranga Lakmal before conceding his first run in this innings - the most by any bowler since 2001. Previous: 40 balls by Jerome Taylor v Aus, Jamaica, 2015.

In & Out

6

No. of India batsmen to get out on the first ball of a Test, including KL Rahul in this game. The last was Wasim Jaffer in 2007 v Bangladesh. Rahul had scored 7 successive fifties before this.

No joy yet

0-10

Sri Lanka's win-loss record in Tests in India, in 17 previous outings. 8 of the 10 defeats have been by margin of an innings and they are yet to win a Test in India.