IND vs SL: Watch - Lasith Embuldeniya Ends Rishabh Pant's Counter-Attacking Innings With An Unplayable Delivery

Indian wicket-keeper batter Rishabh Pant played a stunning counter-attacking innings on Day 1 of the second Test in Bengaluru on Saturday. Unfortunately, it came to a premature end, a testimonial to his ‘live by the sword, die by the sword’ style of play.

Heading into Lunch, the Indian team was in a spot of bother at 93/4. Pant had already made his intentions very clear, playing aerial shots on his third delivery itself.

He resumed the attack after the Lunch session, targeting the spinners who were bowling the majority of the overs. He had received a lifeline early on in the innings as well but Sri Lanka didn’t have to pay dearly for it.

Pant was dismissed by Lasith Embuldeniya in the end, while batting on 39. He tried to premeditate and go back to a length delivery and the low bounce in the surface ensured that the ball sneaked under Pant’s bat.

It is a tough surface to bat on, as witnessed by the number of wickets that India lost in the first session. The spinners started bowling in the early stages after the pacers proved to be ineffective.

Apart from Mayank Agarwal’s terrible runout in the early stages, each of the wickets that have fallen has been to the spinners itself. It was the right decision by both India and Sri Lanka to bring in a spinner for the Bengaluru Test.

India brought in Axar Patel in place of Jayant Yadav while the Lankans replaced the injured Lahiru Kumara with Praveen Jayawickrama. Kusal Mendis also returned to the setup in place of the unavailable Pathum Nissanka.

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Watch Rishabh Pant’s dismissal here: