India vs Sri Lanka: The Funny Side Of The ‘Smog Fiasco’

If you were part of the almost full-house crowd of the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium on the first two days of the India vs Sri Lanka 2017, 3rd Test, you might have had a gala time with Virat Kohli scoring his 6th International double-ton and also registering his highest individual total of 243 runs in the format coupled with that dab-worthy partnership between the skipper and Murali Vijay (155).

However, while the first day was all about India’s dominance over Sri Lanka on the field, hilarious is what we can safely term the second day.

Apart from what could have been the first 300-run knock by Virat Kohli, everything else that happened on the second day of India vs Sri Lanka third and final test was almost funny for the home crowd and humiliating for the visitors.

‘Intent’ is the word that Sri Lankans need to add to their dictionary because this is what they have been lacking. What we saw in the first Test at the Eden Gardens can be easily termed as a competitive draw. However, while we were expecting the same kind of competition throughout the series, all we got was a lowly competitive Sri Lankan side which didn’t mind giving away the singles but neither managed to save the boundaries.

The story continued in the India vs Sri Lanka 2017, 3rd Test at Feroz Shah Kotla.

The uncompetitiveness was visible so much so that there was once a moment where the on-field umpire had to tell Dinesh Chandimal and Niroshan Dickwella to pick up the helmet left by the short-leg fielder near the field.

While this was something digestible keeping in mind the condition the Sri Lankans were in, however, on the second day, biggest controversy which is now trending as the ‘Smog Fiasco’, happened.

Almost every Sri Lankan player was seen wearing an pollution-curbing mask post lunch and five or six overs into the second session of the day, Lahiru Gamage was on the ground, finding it hard to breathe and coping up with his long run-up.

Lahiru Gamage complained of chest pain while showing discomfort in the 123rd over which led to an animated conversation between the umpires and the Lankan skipper. The visitors seemed to be protesting about the poor weather condition and Virat Kohli too joined the conversation.

As the crowd was getting irritated with the halt, it was decided that the India vs Sri Lanka 2017, 3rd Test will continue but once again, in the 127th over, Suranga Lakmal complained of discomfort and walked away from the field, ignoring what his physio had to say.

This led to team officials including the physio, manager and also Indian head coach Ravi Shastri walking on the field and as Shastri came on the ground amidst all the drama with aggression on his face. It looked like he was telling umpires about the stoppage-tactics by the visitors to disrupt the flow of the game.

To say the least, if it was a tactic, it definitely bore fruit for the Lankans as they managed to send Rohit Sharma (65), Ravi Ashwin (4) back to the pavilion while also preventing Virat Kohli to complete his first ever triple-hundred.

With Jadeja and Saha on the pitch, almost everyone in the crowd seemed to know that there were only 10 Sri Lankan players on the field after Lahiru Gamage and Suranga Lakmal walked off, however, it was Jadeja’s boundary towards the third man, which made Dinesh Chandimal realised that they were playing with one man short.

As amusing as it may sound, we are still to uncover the skipper-acumen of Chandimal as he was not aware of the number of players he was playing with, which has definitely put his leadership in question.

But this was not it. As the Sri Lankan realized his mistake, he asked for a substitute from the dressing room, but to our surprise not even a single player was available. (Poof, our veins burst into laughter).

Now, there could be three constructive reasons behind this. First, either none of the players was ready to enter the field due to bad pollution levels or this indeed was a tactic from Sri Lanka to stop the game of play. But there is a third possibility that they literally didn’t have an extra player, which is even more humiliating than the first two.

Nick Lee, who is the trainer of Sri Lankan cricket team was ready on the sidelines and was donning the Lions’ jersey to field for his team. While this was the first time in the 140-year long history of cricket that players played with a mask, Nick Lee would’ve become the first ever foreign cricketer to play for Sri Lanka and this could have made the India vs Sri Lanka 2017, 3rd Test, a once in a lifetime match, which shouldn’t have been missed.

But thanks to Virat Kohli, he ended Sri Lanka’s humiliating day as he called Jadeja and Saha back and declared the innings at 536-7, even though he seemed angered with whatever the visitors were planning to do.

Whether it was right to play in such a bad weather or not, who is to know? It is funny to note that in the same situation where Kohli batted for two successive days and Shami-Ishant bowled regularly without complaints, the Sri Lankan couldn’t manage the same and had to bring the play to an abrupt halt.

As for the India vs Sri Lanka 2017, 3rd Test, the visitors were trailing by 344 runs on the third day at lunch as the scoreboard reflected 192-3, with Angelo Mathews (90*) and Dinesh Chandimal (52*) on the crease.