Former India cricketer Ajit Agarkar praised Shreyas Iyer’s knock of 92 and offered his thoughts on the pitch after India posted 252 batting first on the opening day of the 2nd Test against Sri Lanka in Bengaluru on Saturday. “It’s a special innings. When he looks back, he will be very proud of it because of how difficult it was for most batsmen with a ball and a pitch like that. Initially, maybe he took a couple of chances, got away but later on was very decisive, even when he defended the first of 25-30 runs that he played and then counter-attacked,” Agarkar said during a discussion on Star Sports.
“We saw it in the first hour itself when the spin came on, how much it spun. There were some balls which bounced and kept really low, so it is tricky. It’s not just about surviving, you will have to get runs as well and getting runs means you will have to take risks,” Agarkar added.
Former Sri Lanka cricketer Russel Arnold said Sri Lanka had conceded more runs than they should have.
“To be honest, not very happy (with Sri Lanka’s bowling). They got the 10 wickets but they conceded a little too many runs. You are going to be picking wickets in any pitch. The moment you pick up a couple, you want to be in the game but if you keep letting it slip like the way they did, it’s going to be a problem for Sri Lanka,” he explained.
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Agarkar, meanwhile, defended Virat Kohli, who was dismissed for 23. “When you have had a long career, with over a 100 Tests now, there are always going to be periods when somehow you just find yourself a way to get out. At the moment, it seems to be happening,” Agarkar said.
“Today, again it stayed quite low. He was looking to play on his back foot a lot against spin; this one just skidded through and he was too late. I can’t say there’s anything wrong with the way he is batting because he is still getting stats. Sooner or later he will convert,” he added.
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