Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
Colombo: Kumar Sangakkara’s retirement from international cricket will make it virtually impossible for Sri Lanka to win the series-deciding Test against India which starts at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo later this week. Sangakkara played his final Test match at P. Sara Oval after India clinched a series-levelling win against the hosts.
By his lofty standards, Sangakkara could barely produce the form he is known for. In his last two innings, the former Sri Lankan skipper, who has scored 12400 runs at an average of 57.40, managed 32 and 18 as India’s spin twin Ravichandran Ashwin and Amit Mishra consigned the Lankans to a massive 278-run defeat.
Sri Lanka’s inability to play quality spin was clear when the home team crashed to 114 for seven from their overnight score of 72 for two to hand India an unexpected early advantage. Ashwin and Mishra took eight second innings wickets between themselves as the floodgates opened once the top four were back in the pavilion.
Gavaskar felt without Sangakkara, this Sri Lankan team will be all at sea.
“Sri Lanka will suffer with their batting after Sangakkara’s retirement. It will be very difficult for them to win the next Test without him around,” the former India captain told reporters in an exclusive chat from Colombo on Monday.
Sangakkara had been in brilliant form over the last few years and was key to the team’s success, scoring five hundreds in the last 12 months, including two double hundreds and his Test best of 319. Without him, Mahela Jayawardene and Tillakaratne Dilshan, the Sri Lankan batting will mainly be dependent on skipper Angelo Mathews.
India, meanwhile, have to deal with some problems of their own after their in-form opener Murali Vijay and the fast-developing wicketkeeper batsman Wriddhiman Saha were ruled out with hamstring injuries.
Vijay, who had missed the first Test, scored a fluent 82 to set up India’s second innings charge at the P. Sara Oval while Saha slammed two successive fifties to fill the void left by Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s shock retirement late last year.
“Vijay’s injury is unfortunate. It was he who had allowed Ajinkya Rahane to set the pace (in the second innings). This is a big blow for India,” Gavaskar said.
India and Sri Lanka will face off in the third and final Test at the SSC from Friday. India have the reinforcements and with skipper Virat Kohli saying his team had the “versatility” in batting, it will be the Lankans who will have to deal more with the odds.
