Former Indian cricketer Ajit Agarkar praised Shreyas Iyer’s hit of 92 and gave his opinion on the pitch after India posted 252 at bats first on the opening day of the 2nd Test against Sri Lanka in Bengaluru on Saturday. “It’s a special innings. Looking back, he will be very proud of it, because it was difficult for most batsmen with a ball and a pitch like that. Initially he might have had a few chances, got away, but later on was very decisive, even defending the first of the 25-30 runs he played and then counterattacking,” Agarkar said during a discussion on Star Sports.
“We saw it in the first hour itself when the spin came on how much it was spinning. There were some balls that bounced and stayed really low so it’s tricky. It’s not just about surviving, you’re going to have to get runs and get it of runs means you have to take risks,” Agarkar added.
Former Sri Lankan cricketer Russell Arnold said Sri Lanka had conceded more runs than they should have.
“To be honest, not very happy (with the bowling in Sri Lanka). They got the 10 wickets, but they conceded a little too many runs. You’re going to pick wickets on every pitch. to be in the game, but if you keep letting it slip like they did, it becomes a problem for Sri Lanka,” he explained.
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Agarkar, meanwhile, defended Virat Kohli, who was fired for 23 years. “If you’ve had a long career, with over 100 tests now, there will always be periods where you somehow find a way out. At the moment it seems to be happening,” Agarkar said.
“Today it stayed quite low. He wanted to play a lot on his back foot against spin; this one just slipped through and he was late. I can’t say there’s anything wrong with the way he hits because he still gets statistics. Sooner or later he will repent,” he added.
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