New Delhi: Cricket can be a cruel game at times. Offering no rewards for the hard yards one puts in and instead stealing something with no prior notification. As Sri Lankan opener Upul Tharanga found out for the second time inside seven days.
After spending close to 11 hours in the field, when it was finally his turn to put on the pad and gloves, his stay at the crease was limited to just 6 deliveries. Not because he had played a rash shot or was deceived by one of those Ashwin specials. He was instead, done in by K L Rahul’s 5’ 11’’ long figure, which helped him somehow hang on to a perfectly played flick by Tharanga.
Ask Rahul and he would perhaps tell a complete opposite story of how he was ready, anticipating something like that to happen standing at forward short-leg. Having only 0.27 of a second to react, he did a fine job in reacting swiftly. But in reality, it was one of those rare slices of luck that goes your way without even informing you. Not that Rahul had been enjoying the rub of the green throughout the entire Test match. He was left stranded in the middle by his partner Cheteshwar Pujara, when he looked well settled to register a comeback hundred a day earlier. The catch however, landing on his lap out of nowhere would have acted as an ice pack on those wounds as the celebrations suggest.
Tharanga was not as lucky though. Just days ago, he had a freakish on-field accident to lose his wicket in the second innings of the first Test when he was batting on 64. His bat for once betrayed him and bounced off even after reaching the crease and Wriddhiman Saha, like most shrewd stumpers would do, whipped off the bails at that very moment.
The luck has been evading Sri Lanka as much as quality cricket has been doing. To put it into perspective, Kusal Mendis was standing under the batsman’s nose in each and every delivery of the 132 overs bowled by the Sri Lankan spinners combining day 1 and 2. All he received was a few lusty sweep shots, some forceful pulls but not a single catch. On the other hand, it took Rahul just 6 balls to receive a lucky catch at the same position.
Sri Lanka have been playing listless cricket in the Test series so far. But they would not mind if the rub of the green goes their way a little more often. It would have done them a world of good had Asela Gunaratne not broken his thumb on Day 1 of the first Test or Pradeep did not pull his hamstring during the second Test.
All is still not lost, the hosts still have 8 days of Test cricket to wait for luck or do something out of the ordinary to stop India’s invincible juggernaut.