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Former Indian batter Sanjay Manjrekar has been impressed by Sri Lanka’s young batter Pasindu Sooriyabandara and even said that his batting reminded him of Virat Kohli during the ongoing second and final Test in Colombo.
Pasindu Sooriyabandara had a disappointing start to his international career after getting out for a duck in his debut Test. But he made a strong comeback in Colombo.
Sri Lanka was in deep trouble at 8/2 after India declared their first innings at 503, but Pasindu stood firm and led the charge brilliantly. Earlier, Dodda Ganesh supports Sanjay Manjrekar’s call for action on Yashasvi Jaiswal, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.
Pasindu Sooriyabandara reminded me of Virat Kohli: Sanjay Manjrekar
Pasindu Sooriyabandara played a brilliant knock of 80 runs off 133 balls against India in the first innings. The right-hander hit nine boundaries and played with a calm and compact technique.
Pasindu Sooriyabandara's ability to keep his head right over the ball particularly impressed Sanjay Manjrekar. The commentator said that Pasindu Sooriyabandara reminded him of Virat Kohli in his early days.
Sanjay Manjrekar said on Sony Sports Network, “Sooriyabandara has a good technique with the head coming right on top of the ball. It reminded me of Virat Kohli as a young player when he would get his head right on top of the ball.”
Sonal Dinusha has tremendous skills: Manjrekar
The former Indian batter also hailed Sonal Dinusha. The young Sri Lankan batter continued his superb run by scoring 103, his second century in two matches against India. His knock rescued Sri Lanka after they slipped to 173/7 and helped them reach 290 in their first innings.
Manjrekar has pointed out that Dinusha has looked extremely confident against both pace and spin and has shown maturity well beyond his experience in Colombo.
He added, “Dinusha has everything going for him at the moment. He has tremendous skills against pace and spin, with an excellent temperament. He bats like he's 50 Test matches old.”
Sanjay Manjrekar reveals why Sri Lanka made India work harder in Test series
However, India dominated both Test matches, but Manjrekar felt the young Sri Lankan batters had made the visitors work much harder than expected, both at Galle and Colombo.
Manjrekar added, “I thought Sri Lanka would be bowled out on Day 3 for under 175 with the kind of promise shown by the Indian bowlers at the end of Day 2. But the two young Sri Lankan batters halted India.
Sri Lanka has made it hard for India to dominate them throughout the series. Though India is still dominant, it has been slow domination. I thought India would have them all out for at least under 200 and make them bat again.”
Sanjay Manjrekar questions India’s spin attack after Sri Lanka’s fightback
However, India’s bowling attack left Manjrekar disappointed. India had Sri Lanka at 35/3 early on Day 3, but the hosts fought back and reached 290. Amid this, Shubman Gill takes amazing catch to dismiss Kamindu Mendis in 2nd Test.
India still took a massive 213-run lead and enforced the follow-on, but the former batter felt the visitors should have bowled Sri Lanka out much earlier.
He also felt India’s spin attack of Ravindra Jadeja, Manav Suthar, and Saransh Jain did not have the same impact as some of India’s previous spin combinations.
Manjrekar signed off by saying, “I thought Jadeja was the pick of all the bowlers. That India had to keep going to Prasidh Krishna shows that they weren't quite able to attack with spin as much. India's spin attack didn't quite rise to the occasion like they normally do.”
