Riding on his sizzling half-century from the first innings – 98-ball 92-run innings – Shreyas Iyer recorded another solid fifty in the second innings of the day-night pink ball Test versus Sri Lanka in Bangalore. Iyer scored 67 runs off 87 balls to take India to a total of 303, and the lead of 446.
With the twin fifties in Bangalore, Shreyas Iyer became the first Indian batsman, and the fourth in the world, to register two fifty-plus scores in a day-night Test match. India has played three day-night Tests before this, two in India and one in Australia.
Before Iyer, only Darren Bravo (vs Pak in Dubai, 2016), Steve Smith (vs Pak Brisbane 2016), and Marnus Labuschagne (vs NZ Perth 2019 and vs Eng Adelaide 2021) have achieved this rare feat.
Unlike in the first innings where India had been in a pickle when Iyer came in, this time, the number 6 batter came in at a strong position of 139-4 when India were only piling up their massive lead. With Rishabh Pant going berserk at the other end, Iyer dealt in singles looking to give back the strike to the left-hander.
Once Pant was dismissed having scored the fastest Test fifty by an Indian off 28 balls, then Iyer upped the ante, smashing the helpless Lankan bowlers to a flurry of boundaries. Iyer finished with 67 runs taking his match tally to 159.
Also, earlier in the day, fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah had become the fourth Indian bowler to take a five-wicket haul in a day-night Test, joining Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, and Axar Patel in the list. Axar is the only Indian bowler to have taken a five-wicket haul in both innings of a pink-ball Test.
Meanwhile, set an improbable target of 447 Sri Lanka lost opener Lahiru Thirimanne to the menace of Jasprit Bumrah, and now need 419 more runs with a time of three days and 9 wickets in hands.
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