Colombo: The second day of the Colombo Test match was just another day for the Indians who have made quite a habit of breaking records. All this while it was the batsmen who went about hogging the limelight but now, it’s India’s all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin, who made it a day for him to remember.
Ashwin found himself to be the fastest all-rounder in Test cricket to complete 2000 runs as well as take 250 wickets. He took a total of 51 Test matches to achieve the feat and leads the list which has big names like Richard Hadlee, Imran Khan, Ian Botham and Shaun Pollock.
The Indians began the day with overnight centurions Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara at the crease. But both were dismissed in the first session of play. But that didn’t halt the Indians as they went on to score their second of total 600 or more in consecutive test matches with knocks from Wriddhiman Saha (67), Ashwin (54) and Ravindra Jadeja (70*) to rack up a mammoth 622/9 in the first innings. This was the sixth occasion of India getting to 600 or more since December 2016.
Not only with the bat, but India ensured that they had the game in control with the ball as well. With already a huge first total to chase down, Ashwin did the damage as he dismissed both the openers-Dimuth Karunaratne (25) and Upul Tharanga (0) to leave Sri Lanka at 50/2 at the end of the day’s play.
Skipper Dinesh Chandimal remained unbeaten on 8 runs with Kusal Mendis (16*) at the other end.
Sri Lanka’s pace spearhead Nuwan Pradeep who had walked out of the field on the first day of the match has now been ruled out of the series with a hamstring injury. This would indeed be a huge blow to Sri Lanka, who are already 1-0 down in the series and haven’t looked threatening at all.