IND vs SL: 2nd Test Preview: Rampant India look to continue winning streak

The second and the final Test match of Sri Lanka's tour to India will be played on the 12th of March. This will be India's third Day-Night Test at home. India completely dominated Sri Lanka in the first match as the match concluded on day 3 itself. India was great in all the departments, especially Ravindra Jadeja. He played a fantastic knock and scored an unbeaten 175 out of India's 574 runs. He followed that up with a five-for and a four-for in consecutive innings. Rishabh Pant, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Hanuma Vihari looked in good touch too as they scored half-centuries each.

The Sri Lanka team, on the other hand, lagged behind in all the departments. When they bowled, they let the batters build easy partnerships and never put any pressure on them. When they came in to bat, only two batters across two innings stuck around to get half-centuries. Apart from Pathum Nissanka in the first innings and Niroshan Dickwella in the second innings, nobody performed well for them. They have some good quality players, but they need to get the results on the field.

In the next match, Sri Lanka will look to deliver more stable performance, while India will look to get more out of their batting in the top order. This match is important for India as Test championship points are at stake.

Pitch Report

Despite the Bangalore pitch having good coverage of grass, it is a good one to bat on. The bounce and carry on offer is good for the batters. However, the grass can assist the fast bowlers in the initial stage. As the pitch wears out, the spinners will also come into play. The team winning the toss would want to bat first, to take the advantage of the fresh pitch early on in the match.

Probable playing XI's

The pitch in Bangalore demands more fast bowling options, which can result in the teams making some changes to their lineup. India could take out the third spinner and bring in another fast bowler. Sri Lanka can slightly tweak their setup by replacing a fast bowler with another fast bowler.

India

Rohit Sharma (c), Mayank Agarwal, Hanuma Vihari, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Siraj/Axar Patel, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah

Sri Lanka

Dimuth Karunaratne (c), Lahiru Thirimanne, Kusal Mendis, Charith Asalanka, Angelo Mathews, Dhananjaya de Silva, Niroshan Dickwella (wk), Suranga Lakmal, Vishwa Fernando, Lasith Embuldeniya, Praveen Jayawickrama

Match details

Date- 12th March to 16th March

Time- 2 p.m (IST)

Venue- M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore