KOLKATA TEST

When Sri Lanka nearly blew it again

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Set an imposing target of 231, Sri Lanka slumped to 75 for 7 before bad light came to their rescue.
Set an imposing target of 231, Sri Lanka slumped to 75 for 7 before bad light came to their rescue. © BCCI

It happened in Cardiff 2011, it happened in Hobart 2012 and it nearly happened in Kolkata on Monday (November 20) that Sri Lanka almost messed up a game that they should have saved comfortably.

Set an imposing target of 231, to get in a maximum of 47 overs, Sri Lanka had to survive a session and half, perhaps lesser given the early finishes in Kolkata. But the dramatic three hours that followed gave plenty of entertainment for the fans at Eden Gardens after the first two days had been severely hit by rain.

Sri Lanka lost the openers inside three overs. Then the dramatic final session saw five more wickets fall as Sri Lanka slumped to 75 for 7. There was a sigh of relief as the umpires called off play at 4:27pm due to bad light, denying India what could have been a famous win.

Something similar happened six years ago. In Tillakaratne Dilshan's first assignment as captain, the players flew to England in separate batches due to their IPL commitments. Several of them - including Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene - even missed a warm-up game and went into the first Test in Cardiff under-prepared.

In that Test match in 2011, nearly two days had been lost to rain. When play got underway on the final day at 3pm, England still hadn't completed their first innings. The hosts used up two overs to allow Ian Bell, who was 98 overnight, to reach his hundred. Trailing by 96, Sri Lanka had 51 overs to survive and their work had been cut out even though James Anderson was ruled out with a side strain.

But the tourists were blown away by Chris Tremlett and Stuart Broad inside 25 overs. They were all out for 82 as England completed an innings win.

A year later, in Hobart, they suffered a similar fate. Set a target of 393 to win in four sessions, Mahela Jayawardene's side was looking for a draw. Two down at the start of the final day, Kumar Sangakkara and Tilan Samaraweera had a done a splendid job in the first two sessions. They went into the final session with six wickets in hand and found Mitchell Starc hard to cope with, eventually succumbing to a painful 137-run defeat with less than ten overs remaining.

It was deja vu again in Kolkata as some outstanding bowling, coupled with bad shot selection, took them close to conceding an early lead in the three-match series.

Adding to the drama were the antics of Niroshan Dickwella. Having deposited Mohammad Shami for a six over square-leg, the 24-year-old brought to the notice of umpire Nigel Llong that India had placed three fielders behind square on the leg-side. Promptly, a no-ball was signalled.

Then the wicketkeeper-batsman got into a few altercations. First with Shami, coming face to face with the Indian seamer after he had been made to wait at the start of the run-up. Then with the Indian captain, and finally with Ravichandran Ashwin. He couldn't see his team through, eventually falling to Bhuvneshwar Kumar after top scoring with 27.

Rangana Herath then saw off four balls from Bhuvneshwar. At the end of that over, the Sri Lankans were complaining that they couldn't see the ball. The physio came out and was sent back by the umpire. Dasun Shanaka then defended three balls from Shami and the light meters came out again before the players were sent away.

Sri Lanka, luckily, had a narrow escape this time.

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