Counter-attacking Iyer blunts SL spin attack on turner

Batting on a turning track can be a difficult art. More so for the current Team India batters who hardly get time to hone their skills in domestic cricket due to a packed international calendar. One has to be decisive in the footwork—fully forward or back—and then know which shot to play.

Saturday presented a surprise test for Rohit Sharma and his troops. The M Chinnaswamy Stadium curator dished out a rank turner for no apparent reason in a Day-Night Test in which the home side was the heavy favourite anyway.

With the pink ball in hand and on a pitch offering turn, the Sri Lanka bowlers had their tails up in the opening session of the second Test here on Saturday afternoon. On the dry track, they introduced spin as early as the eighth over, and Sharma watched from the other end as a puff of dust rose when left-arm spinner Lasith Embuldeniya flighted a ball to Hanuma Vihari.

The India captain himself became the first victim of spin, falling in the second over of Embuldeniya, caught at slip. In no time, India were down to 86 for four with Vihari and Virat Kohli also failing to counter the turning ball.

Saturday presented a surprise test for Rohit Sharma and his troops. The M Chinnaswamy Stadium curator dished out a rank turner for no apparent reason in a Day-Night Test in which the home side was the heavy favourite anyway.

With the pink ball in hand and on a pitch offering turn, the Sri Lanka bowlers had their tails up in the opening session of the second Test here on Saturday afternoon. On the dry track, they introduced spin as early as the eighth over, and Sharma watched from the other end as a puff of dust rose when left-arm spinner Lasith Embuldeniya flighted a ball to Hanuma Vihari.

The India captain himself became the first victim of spin, falling in the second over of Embuldeniya, caught at slip. In no time, India were down to 86 for four with Vihari and Virat Kohli also failing to counter the turning ball.

That's when Shreyas Iyer walked in and took over. Providing a fine exhibition of tackling a spin-heavy attack on a raging turner, the young Mumbai batter put the pressure back on Sri Lanka with a sterling innings of 92 off 98 balls. On a pitch where any ball could have a batter's name on it, Iyer didn't rely on his defensive solidity; rather, his clean hitting took down the Lankan spinners. Smashing 10 fours and four sixes, Iyer scored at a strike rate of 93.88 to help India finish on a total of 252.

"When I was waiting to bat, I could see there was drama happening every over. I just decided I couldn't get out defending the ball because there was more chance of getting out that way. So we had to have that intent," said Iyer.

The left-arm spin pair of Embuldeniya and Praveen Jayawickrama got three wickets each but leaked runs too at an economy rate of 3.90 and 4.70, respectively. Iyer smashed 47 runs off Embuldeniya (who finished with figures of three for 94 off 24 overs), and 22 off Jayawickrama (three for 81 off 17.1 overs).

India picked an extra spinner for this Test in Axar Patel but Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami showed the team didn't really need spin for breakthroughs with the pink ball, sharing five wickets between them under lights. The pace duo ran through the Sri Lanka top-order to leave them reeling at 86 for six at stumps. With the visitors trailing by 166 runs, they face a challenge to stretch the game beyond the second day.

Coming out to bat after the dinner break, the Lankan batters were off to a disastrous start. Bumrah gave them a torrid time while picking up two wickets in his first spell of five overs. Captain Sharma also introduced spin straight away, giving Ravichandran Ashwin the new ball alongside Bumrah. But, seeing Bumrah go great guns, he introduced Shami from the other end and the senior pacer struck with his first ball to dismantle the top-order

Talk of dismantling the opposition and it was Rishabh Pant who started it a few hours before. The explosive keeper-batter is building a fearsome reputation, which he added to with another quick-fire 39 off 26 balls attacking the Lankan spinners. For the first ball he faced, there were three fielders placed on the leg-side boundary. Still, the southpaw went for a lofted shot but veteran Suranga Lakmal was unable to hold on to the catch.

With Pant being aggressive, Iyer was content to play second fiddle in their partnership of 40 off 31 balls. The latter took charge once Pant fell at the score of 126 and combined with the lower-order batters to get useful partnerships. He added 22 off 24 balls with Ravindra Jadeja, 35 off 63 with Ashwin, 32 off 17 with Patel and 14 with Shami. Iyer also scored all of the 23 runs for the last wicket stand with Bumrah.

Earlier, after losing the openers early in the session with Mayank Agarwal falling to a bizarre run-out, India were revived by Vihari and Kohli who added 47 runs before falling in successive overs on the brink of tea.

As India and Sri Lanka battled on the field to the roar of fans, Gundappa Viswanath took centre stage off it for the launch of his book, "Wrist Assured". Vishwanath's batting is more than the numbers of 6,000-plus Test runs. He would make batting look easy even on the most difficult of wickets. It's no surprise that he had taken a liking for Iyer after his very first innings in Test cricket when the Mumbai batter emulated the legend's feat of a hundred on debut at Kanpur's Green Park.

During his speech on Saturday evening, the former chairman of selectors once again reiterated that it's not about the runs but how you get them which is equally important. He cited the example of Sourav Ganguly, who was his pick after watching him score just 28.

For Vishwanath, Iyer has the mettle. "It is not only that he got runs but how he got the runs. The way he applied himself in both the innings, when the runs were required very badly. He played his natural game (and) that's what I liked. It showed his maturity. In a tight situation, he showed every aspect of batsmanship," Vishwanath had told this paper in an earlier interview about Iyer's debut hundred against New Zealand where he helped boost the total to 345 from 145 for four.

This series is a test of whether the likes of Iyer and Vihari are ready to take over from seniors Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara. Iyer has certainly aced it so far.