Rishabh Pant ‘s gallant fight against the Sri Lankan pacers during his unbeaten 63 was the highlight of an engrossing first session, after which India found themselves at a comfortable 419 for six on the second day of the second and final Test on Monday. Pant and an equally impressive Dhruv Jurel (59) were batting at lunch after the tourists resumed from 300 for five, and the seventh-wicket pair has so far added 112 runs. India were 307 for six then and also in need of some more runs to pull away from the hosts.
India are in a great position in the second Test. Sri Lanka found an immediate breakthrough as Asitha Fernando dismissed debutant Saransh Jain for six.
Famous cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle said that the first session would go on to be the one that took the game away from Sri Lanka. Pant has been tactically smart, but Jurel has been flawless,” Bhogle said. “We might look back at this session at the end of this Test match as the phase when the game moved decisively away from Sri Lanka.
After the early strokes of luck, he displayed patience and showed some fine temperament. India have found a very good player. There will be challenges ahead but, for now, it is time to acknowledge what we have here,” he wrote. But he allayed a lot of concerns, both about himself and the team’s position, during his near two-hour stay at the crease, batting with confidence and showing little discomfort.
Earlier, he praised centurion Devdutt Padikkal . “Very different kind of century from Padikkal today.
