Dazzling in Delhi, Sri Lankan style

by Rex Clementine

India have yet again stamped their authority in Delhi as Australia lost the plot sweeping their way to disaster in the second Test.Delhi has been an absolute fortress of Indian cricket as of the 13 Tests they have played here since 1987, India have won 11 Tests and the remaining two have been drawn. One of those draws involved Sri Lanka when they played in 2017.

Strangely, since 2017, Delhi hasn’t hosted a Test match until this one. That gives you an idea about how Indian cricket politics work. India used to have five major cricket centers; Bombay, Calcutta, Bangalore, Madras and Delhi. But these power bases have now ceased to exist. Hard to think that apart from Delhi none of the other major four cricket centers failed to get a Test match against the Aussies. Ahmedabad has now become the stronghold of Indian cricket. Wonder why? It’s the state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and cricket’s most powerful man Jay Shah hails from there.

Going back to the Delhi Test involving Sri Lanka, it was an absolute cracker. The tourists played out of their skins to earn a hard-fought draw.

Prior to the Delhi Test, Sri Lanka had played in Nagpur and were handed an innings and 239 run defeat, their worst in history. Against that backdrop, raising the game in Delhi was no mean task.

The Delhi wicket keeps low and turns square and against an attack comprising Ravi Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, the batsmen have their work cut out. The bowling is quite formidable but the conditions in Delhi make things tougher. There’s obviously the smog and the polluted air that make you sick unless you take the necessary precautions. Even if you take all the precautions, vomiting in night and feeling lethargic by the end of the day are common factors in Delhi.

In the first innings, Angelo Mathews scored a hundred and captain Dinesh Chandimal ended with a top score of 164 to help Sri Lanka get closer to 400 runs.

India declared their second innings on the penultimate day with 17 overs to go leaving Sri Lanka with an improbable target of 410 runs. Realistically, the tourists were looking to survive three sessions and an hour. When they lost three wickets in the last hour of day four, there was very little hope. But Dhananjaya de Silva in his new role of number three gave fresh hopes with a century.

But with two sessions remaining India just needed five wickets and they were fancying their chances. Then came a fine rearguard action from a man on debut – Roshen Silva.

When Roshen was finally given his Test cap in Delhi 2017, he had already played in over 100 First Class matches. Every time there was an opportunity for him to make his Test debut, he was denied a chance on some flimsy grounds. Delhi was an opportunity to sink or swim for him and he played so well to save the game against many odds. If you see the Aussies play spin in Delhi, it’s all about sweeps. But Roshen’s game was entirely different. He trusted his defence. Being aggressive against spin is a method modern-day players employ to ensure a spinner doesn’t get settled and find his groove. But in the case of Roshen, it was just old-fashioned grinding.

Roshen wasn’t alone in this act. He had got of all people Niroshan Dickwella to hang around with him and stitch a 94 run unbroken partnership.As the game headed to the last hour, there came a temptation from Dickwella. ‘Listen, we need 110 runs in 15 overs. We have already lost the series. It doesn’t matter if we lose 1-0 or 2-0. But if we chase this down, we’ll create history by winning our first Test match in India,’ Dickwella told Roshen. But here was a man who knew how quickly things can change in cricket, especially against an attack that had Ashwin, Jadeja. Shami and Ishant. So he decided to close shop.

With Roshen not buying into his argument, Dickwella came up with a counteroffer. ‘Not many have scored hundreds on debut. Maybe you should go for one and take the selectors to take note,’ he said.Roshen, however, was happy to remain unbeaten on 74 knowing too well that things tend to happen so fast in India.It was one of Sri Lanka’s best tours of India as the team drew two Tests digging deep and fighting so hard. It’s a pity that temperamentally sound players like Roshen never got the long rope.