Dasun Shanaka’s bowling can be best described as right-arm military medium, which becomes effective in seaming conditions. Last year, when the 26-year-old made his Test debut at Leeds, he had Alastair Cook and Joe Root, along with Nick Compton, among his three wickets in the first innings.
After 18 months, in his second Test at Eden Gardens, in conditions even more seamer-friendly than Leeds, Shanaka walked away with two wickets during 105 minutes of play that was possible on Friday. Unlike Leeds, here the wickets had been gifted away. Ajinkya Rahane played a poor shot and R Ashwin too would be disappointed with the way he sliced a wide delivery to backward point.
Rahane has been going through a mini form slump since his 188 against New Zealand at Indore last year. In 12 Tests over the past 12-odd months, he has scored only one century and three half-centuries.
His average during this period has dropped to 35.52 compared to his career average of 47.61. He has played some important cameos alright, like his 46 and 38 not out in the final Test against Australia in Dharamsala earlier this year. But somehow the old Rahane has had been missing. Concentration seems to have become a factor as far as his batting is concerned.
Batting on this Eden pitch is a challenge. It also presented an opportunity to a player like Rahane to grind it out and accumulate runs. He had his 103 at Lord’s, 54 and 52 not out at Rose Bowl and 147 at the MCG to fall back on for confidence and inspiration. Rahane came to this Test on the heels of two Ranji Trophy matches where he had spent over 400 minutes at the crease and faced close to 300 balls.
“Yes I got out on 49 and 45 in the Ranji Trophy but for me it was important to play as many balls as possible and get that practice for the Test series,” he had said before the Test.
Resuming on overnight 17 for three, India needed a partnership. But Rahane looked iffy with his footwork right from the start. He nearly edged a Suranga Lakmal delivery that was bowled from wide of the crease.
Even the four he hit off Lakmal had very little control, playing away from his body and getting a thick edge that went past the second gully to the fence. By the way, those were the first runs that the Sri Lanka fast bowler conceded in this game; after 46 balls.
Then, Sri Lanka captain Dinesh Chandimal brought on Shanaka from the Club House end. The medium pacer bowled a dibbly-dobbly loosener wide outside the off stump. For a change, there was no lateral movement either.
Rahane’s eyes lit up. He went for a full-blooded cover drive on the up, edging the delivery to the ‘keeper. It felt like his dismissal was just round the corner and it happened in a very unlike-Rahane way.
Compare this with Cheteshwar Pujara, who remained unbeaten on 47 on another truncated day as India laboured to 74 for five. The Saurashtra man was the only shining light. Bereft of an IPL contract, he went to play for Derbyshire two seasons ago. He had an ordinary start.
Glamorgan bowlers had exposed some chinks in his batting technique in seaming conditions. Surrey’s Tim Linley troubled him.
But gradually his County career started to take shape. He moved to Yorkshire in 2015 and his latest stint this year was with Nottinghamshire. He scored a century against Gloucestershire but more importantly, Country cricket helped him grow as a cricketer.
English summer feel
This mid-November Eden Test has an early English summer feel, weather and conditions wise.
Pujara’s experience helped. Pujara went behind the line of the ball, bat and pad close together. He played late and also forced the bowlers to bowl into him, gaining a strategic advantage. The best thing about his batting today was that he hardly missed a scoring opportunity.
Unlike the frontline Sri Lanka pacers, Shanaka wasn’t moving the ball prodigiously.
He was pitching it too full on occasions. Pujara was ready every time. He created an imaginary ‘V’ between mid-off and cover and almost every over-pitched delivery had been driven to the boundary.
“His (Pujara) innings shows the benefits of him playing County cricket. That is genuinely a wicket you would find in England, April-May, and he certainly played in the conditions very well,” Sri Lanka coach Nic Pothas lauded the India No. 3.
Part-timer Dimuth Karunaratne bowled short and had been punished. Sri Lanka, however, missed a trick by not bringing back Lakmal after Ashwin’s dismissal. In a tight contest, Karunaratne’s bowling offered a breather to the hosts.
But on a 21-over day, the contrast between Rahane and Pujara’s batting was the only highlight.
Why Cheteshwar Pujara succeeded and Ajinkya Rahane failed
Ajinkya Rahane
It’s his heel that first catches the eye in the shot that led to his dismissal. The front foot landed on the heel, and never quite pressed fully on the turf as he completed the shot. Unsurprisingly, the head was bobbing around, he wasn’t able to lean fully forward into the shot as the foot-stride had gone out of control, but he would have still survived if not for the faulty shot selection.
The urge to play a forcing-shot could be still understood. Dasun Shanaka is a mediumpacer who at times almost floats the ball across. It can get difficult for a naturally attacking batsman to resist the temptation to drive. But Rahane’s mistake lay in the shot he attempted – the cover drive.
On a seaming track, where the cloud cover was providing extra venom to the bowlers, cover drive can’t be trusted.
With the ball tailing away, the cover drive would force the batsman to play away from the body, the bat chasing the ball, and the open bat-face presenting greater chances of getting an edge.
Interestingly, he got out in a similar fashion in the last Ranji game he played last week against Baroda. It was Atit Sheth, another mediumpacer, bowled full delivery outside off. Rahane went chasing at it and edged it to the slips.
In Kolkata, the landing on the heel, the choice of cover drive, and the tempting slowness in the delivery all led to his dismissal.
Cheteshwar Pujara
Not long before Rahane fell, Pujara creamed the same bowler to the mid-off boundary against a ball similar to the one that got Rahane.
The forward stride was precise, the foot pressed on to the ground before the bat made contact with the ball and most importantly it was hit past mid-off.
Through his innings, his desire to thread through the V stood out. The bat-face was straighter, there was enough wood behind the ball to cover for any late movement, and the shot was played as close to the body as possible. No wonder Pujara prospered, and the rest didn’t.
Indian Express App