Former Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene on Monday lauded Niroshan Dickwella‘s attitude and antics to save the Test match for his side on Day 5 at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata.
Sri Lanka got off to bad start while chasing a target of 231 as they lost their top-order four batsmen in 12 overs.
Dickwella, who came out to bat at number 5 after the dismissal of Angelo Mathews, tried to waste as much time as he could during his stay at the crease to take the Test match towards a draw.
The wicket-keeper batsman’s antics got pacer Mohammad Shami infuriated, forcing the umpire to intervene and India captain Virat Kohli jumped in as well before umpire Nigel Llong mediated the whole issue.
Dickwella and Chandimal, who had a long animated chat in the middle, were trying to waste more time as the rapid fall of wickets sent chills down the team’s spine. With only a few overs to go before the bad light was expected to call the day off, the Indian players tried to do everything they could in order to force through a result from the match.
Eventually, India ended up 3-wickets shy of a win but there were many positives to take from the team’s second innings which saw Kohli slam his 50th international century.
The result extremely pleased former Sri Lankan great Mahela Jayawardene, who took to Twitter to laud Dickwella’s ‘antics’ as well as Kohli’s knock.
“Enjoyed NiroshanDikka attitude and antics this afternoon. Good test match.. well played imVkohli. Looking forward to the next one,” tweeted Jayawardene.
Enjoyed @NiroshanDikka attitude and antics this afternoon. Good test match.. well played @imVkohli. Looking forward to the next one.👏👏
— Mahela Jayawardena (@MahelaJay) November 20, 2017
Kohli was quick to reply to Jayawardene’s tweet. “Yes, test cricket at it’s best. Onto the next one now,” wrote the 29-year-old Indian captain.
Yes, test cricket at it's best. Onto the next one now. ☝️😊
— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) November 20, 2017
