One will have to
believe in fate to explain his comeback.
Today, Amit Mishra took 2 though it was Ravi Ashwin who did it all
taking 6 – bundling the home team for 183.
For Amit, his last Test was in Aug 2011 at Kennington Oval,
London Test no. 2004 when Indians were defeated by an innings and 8 runs. He
had a good 144 run partnership with Sachin, whose missing a century was much
talked about. In that test Bell (235)
and Pietersen (175) amassed runs to pile a total of 591/6 decl. Mishra had forgettable figures of
38-3-170-0. In the 1st Innings, Indians
were bowled out for 300 – Rahul Dravid opening and carrying his bat through for
146.Following on, India lost Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman at
118 and Amit was sent as a night watchman to join Tendulkar. After battling for long, and when it appeared
a draw was the most likely result – Amit got out at 262 making 84; Sachin too
followed at the same score having made 91 and India folded for 283…….. and Amit
Mishra went into oblivion and not many thought he would play Test again ! –
today too, in a team that had Ashwin and Harbhajan, not many would have fancied
his chances – but Kohli went in with 5 bowlers, and three spinners in that.
At
Galle on day 1 in Test no. 2176, Sri Lankans were all out for 183 and Indians
are 128/2 …
Galle is a
fortified Port city, situated on the southwestern tip of Sri Lanka, 119 km off
from Colombo. It has a long history of trade – way back in 1505 Portuguese ship
was driven there by a storm, Portuguese stormed the city. It was very prominent
during the Dutch colonial period; badly affected by the Tsunami on 26th Dec
2004. Galle is the fourth largest city
in Sri Lanka after the capital Colombo, Kandy and Jaffna. The city was extensively fortified by the
Dutch during the 17th century from 1649 onwards. The Galle fort is a world
heritage site and is the largest remaining fortress in Asia built by European
occupiers.
The cricket ground
severely damaged by the tsunami, was rebuilt and test matches resumed here in
Dec 2007/ Important natural geographical
features in Galle include Rumassala in Unawatuna, a large mound-like hill,
which forms the eastern protective barrier to the Galle harbour. Local
tradition associates this hill with some events of Ramayana. With the Indian ocean visible on two sides of
the ground and the famous clocktower of the 16th-century Dutch fort towering
above, Galle's international stadium is one of the most scenic venues in the
world.
In
between – Amit Mishra had missed 33 tests and the last time he took a wicket was
exactly four years ago, on August 12, 2011 in Birmingham. The other prodigious
Rohit Sharma has scored 42 runs in his last 10 Test and ODI innings in Sri Lanka.
He averages 4.2 runs per innings in this period, with scores of 4, 0, 11, 5, 5,
0, 0, 4, 4 & 9.
Ages ago, to a question on whether he believes in fate, Cho
Ramaswamy (Thuglak Editor) replied drawing elaborate reference to PV Narasimha
Rao… Narasimha rao had been the CM and has been a Parliamentarian… in 1984
elections held after assassination of Indira Gandhi, Congress got 414 seats; 2nd was
TDP; BJP got only 2 ……… one was from South India (yes) – Hanamkonda, where
Chandupatla Janga Reddy defeated Rao by approx 55000 votes. In
1991, he had almost retired when Rajiv was touted to return to power but lost
life sadly in that blast at Sriperumpudur … Narasimha Rao was to become the
Prime Minister becoming the first holder of this office from non-Hindi-speaking
south India.
With regards – S. Sampathkumar
12th Aug 2015
Photo credit : bcci.tv and stats cricinfo
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