Xtra Time Web Desk : Team India all rounder Ravindra Jadeja was the star of the show on Day 2 of the 1st Test against Sri Lanka as late Shane Warne’s ‘Rockstar’ amassed a brilliant 175* to take his team to a humongous total of 574/8.
Jadeja or the Indian team management didn’t feel that the all-rounder needed to go for a double hundred as hosts declared their innings after quite literally batting Sri Lanka out of the game.
In the final session, Ravichandran Ashwin (61 off 82 balls, 2/21), having nicely warmed up with his 12th half-century, removed Lahiru Thirimanne and Dhananjaya De Silva to go past Sir Richard Hadlee’s 431 victims.
Jadeja (1/30) later celebrated his hundred once again by trapping Sri Lanka’s best player and skipper Dimuth Karunaratne (28) leg before.
Jasprit Bumrah (1/20) disposed off Angelo Mathews to leave them tottering at 108 for 4 as a three-day finish looked imminent. Sri Lanka still needs 267 runs to avoid follow-on.
Jadeja’s career-best knock, his second ton in Test cricket, came less than 24 hours after the cricket world tried to come to terms with Warne’s tragic end.
It was Warne, who first realised Jadeja’s untapped batting potential during Rajasthan Royals’ 2008 Indian Premier League campaign, where it was his late hitting that earned him the ‘Rockstar’ moniker from his mentor-captain.