Advertisment
Cricket

‘Darr Ka mahol hai’ – Fans react after Sri Lanka's brilliant start in first Test against New Zealand threatens India’s Test Championship final spot

India could’ve sealed their spot in the final if they emerged victorious in the 3rd Test but that couldn’t happen.

author-image
Jennifer
New Update
New Zealand and Australian Players (Source - Twitter)

New Zealand and Australian Players (Source - Twitter)

Australia have already qualified for the Test Championship final after they made a brilliant comeback against India in the 3rd Test of the four-match Test series by winning the match by 9 wickets. However, it is still not decided who will be their opponent on the biggest stage of the longest format.

Advertisment

India could’ve sealed their spot in the final if they emerged victorious in the 3rd Test but that couldn’t happen. So it all comes to the fourth and final Test of the series. If the Men in Blue win the 4th match they will be through to the final, and will not have to be depended on the results in Sri Lanka vs New Zealand series.

However, If the match ended up in a draw then India’s PCT will fall to 52.9 but it won’t create much trouble to them and they could still qualify if Sri Lanka fail to clean-sweep New Zealand. But looking at the current situation of the Indian team in the fourth Test, it might raise some questions as the Australian batters are all over the Indian bowlers and crossed the 300-run mark on the 2nd day before the lunch on just 4 wickets.

Usman Khawaja and Cameron Green both smashed brilliant centuries and are looking solid on the pitch. Indian bowlers failed to create chances and are scratching their heads to get rid of the strong-looking partnership between Khwaja and Green which is almost close to crossing the 200-run mark.

Advertisment

A brilliant all-round performance by Sri Lanka

Meanwhile, on the other hand, the Sri Lanka team also increased India’s problem as they got a brilliant start in the first Test against New Zealand which was started on March 9 at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch. They first show a great display of batting performance as they put 355 runs on the scoreboard. Half-centuries from Dimuth Karunaratne and Kusal Mendis are what set things up nicely for them and after that the middle-order contributed plenty of runs and put the team in a strong position.

However, the surprise came when the Sri Lankan bowlers started bowling, they picked up wickets on the score of just 162 runs at the end of the second day. It’d be a miracle if they pulled off a win against the Kiwis in their own conditions.

Here’s how fans reacted:

India Australia New Zealand Sri Lanka Twitter Reactions India vs Australia 2023 IND vs AUS