The mind game continues in Colombo as India and Sri Lanka, both of the sides, are keen to wrap up the match in style. On Day 3 of the ongoing Test match in Colombo, Mohammed Siraj forced Kamil Mishara to lose his concentration. In the very next over of Mohammed Siraj’s sledging, the Lankan batter lost his wicket to another fast bowler, Prasidh Krishna.
With Mohammed Siraj joining the list, the India vs Sri Lanka Test series now has three different sledging events across two matches. Siraj’s verbal spat is believed to be in reaction to Yashasvi Jaiswal’s verbal altercation with the Sri Lanka fast bowler Asitha Fernando. Fernando intimated Jaiswal after he bowled him out in the first innings.
Mohammed Siraj’s sledging came after the heated moment between Yashasvi Jaiswal and Asitha Fernando
The heated moment between Yashasvi Jaiswal and Asitha Fernando caught widespread attention from cricket fans across the world. Some of the cricket experts,s including Harsha Bhogle, le opined that walking away was probably the best position for the Indian batter to avoid the situation. However, Jaiswal clarified that he reacted because of the situation and he would not step back from fighting with the opposing teams.
Interestingly, Fernando’s intimidating words were believed to be linked to the first match of the series. In the first match, it was Yashasvi Jaiswal who used some words from the slip to distract Niroshan Dickwella. Jaiswal lured the batter with an ‘IPL’ offer and asked him to hit a six. Dickwella lost his wicket soon.
Kamil Mishara was distracted by Mohammed Siraj, and Prasidh Krishna took the moment to strike
In the latest event, it was Mohammed Siraj who showed his sledging skills to Kamil Mishara. A slight portion of Siraj’s comments was caught on the stump mic, which did not sound like something to get offended about. But there must be something in it which forced the batter to lose his focus.
On the third ball of the 10th over of Sri Lanka’s first innings, Prasidh Krishna dismissed Kamil Mishara. Mishara could easily leave the ball, but went to drag the ball down on the ground and produced and edged. Krishna changed his angle a bit, running around the wicket.
Prasidh Krishna changed his angle and caught Kamil Mishara off guard
The short pitch delivery was around 142 km/h, into the left-handed batter. Mishara went on his toes to play the ball but missed the bounce. The ball climbed on the batter’s arm, deflected from his gloves,s and floated towards the keeper behind the stumps. Dhurv Jurel took an easy catch.
By lunch, Sri Lanka, the host nation, was on 130 runs against 4 wickets, keeping India in the front seat as the favourite to win the match and the series. As of now, key batters like Lahiru Udara, Kamil Mishara, and Kamindu Mendis have gone back into their hut. Night watchman Prabath Jayasuriya also lost his wicket early in the innings. The hosts are now clearly on the wrong foot against the touring team, India.