Pant, Pasindu and a Plot Written Behind the Stumps

 

Image :Debasis Sen

Vaibhav Tripathi, Colombo

There was a guy who used to change the course of the game from behind the wickets. Generally, whenever this phrase is used, on most occasions, it has been in relation to MS Dhoni. The legendary wicket-keeper-batter is regarded as having one of the best cricketing brains. In his decorated career, so many times he has changed the course of the game with his decision-making or by passing on the tips on to the bowlers. On day 4 of the second Test, Dhoni’s apprentice, Pant proved to be the catalyst in the process of getting the wicket of Pasindu Sooriyabandara who batted really well for his 92.

Sri Lanka adopted an aggressive blueprint to unsettle India’s spinners, and Sooriyabandara led the charge with intent. From the moment he walked in, his footwork reflected a clear urgency to keep the scoreboard moving. Unlike his first-innings 80, the right-hander was far more proactive against spin early on, repeatedly stepping out of his crease to disrupt the bowlers’ rhythm and put them under immediate pressure.

With the pitch occasionally offering big turn, and seldom from the line of the stumps, India’s three spinners toiled hard with little reward through the first two sessions. And Sri Lanka’s aggression forced them into defensive plans, with Manav Suthar going over the wicket to Sooriyabandara in an effort to challenge his sweep out of the rough outside the leg stump. This tactic, though, failed miserably. Post tea, India went back to the basics. They brought control and dried up the boundaries. With no boundaries coming, as a set batter, Sooriyabandara was the one who had to do something having understood the nature of the wicket. More pressure came on him when he closely survived a close call thanks to the DRS.

Sensing something is going to happen, Pant told Manav, Shubman Gill and the fielders that a restless Sooriyabandara could try clearing the inner ring.

“Restless ho raha hain, mid-on ready rehna. (He is getting restless, someone in mid-on get ready.),” said Pant.

Pant conveyed the message in Hindi.
Not sure if Sooriyabandara understood what he said. But what he did was exactly what Pant wanted the opener to do.

With runs drying up, a batter in the 90s gave a pre-empted charge to Manav. The bowler saw it coming after which he slowed down the pace and pushed it well outside off. Sooriyabandara had a desperate lunge, but he couldn’t come anywhere near the ball and Pant had ample time to do the stumping.

Had Sooriyabandara scored that hundred, things could’ve been completely different by the end of the day. Pant took the route of playing mental games and fair to say he was successful in his motive. Due credit to the bowler for bowling outside of the batter’s reach, but the seed of doubt was sown in by Pant. Gill also had bluffed him with his field placement.

Poor Pasindu, once again found himself caught in the tense territory of the nervous 90s, undone by a player who knows all too well the frustration of falling short of three figures himself.

This episode was another illustration of the mental demands of the game, that can be just as decisive as physical endurance.

 

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