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India v/s Sri Lanka 2nd Test Preview: Prepare, dominate, repeat

As India look to beat SL in 2nd Test starting today, they will also hope to iron out flaws ahead of SA tour

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India captain Virat Kohli warms-up before a net session on the eve of the 2nd Test against Sri Lanka in Nagpur on Thursday
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After a long net session on Thursday afternoon with their batsmen going through the grind including facing the bowling machine, and their senior player, former captain Angelo Mathews fully strapped and helmet in place taking tennis balls above shoulder height to practice ducking and swaying, the Sri Lankans managed to have a hearty laugh.

Their slip cordon of Mathews, Lahiru Thirimanne, Sadeera Samarawickrama and gully Dilruwan Perera even stopped taking catches for a while given by Nic Pothas and found something very amusing that their interim coach too joined in the fun.

Even as they are searching for their first Test win in India in 35 years, they look at cricket as a way of life and look at improving. The Lankans, like all other cricketing nations have experienced, know that India is certainly no laughing matter when it comes to playing here. It is just that Lanka have been up against a formidable Indian side over the years that they expect a miracle to happen at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in the second Test starting on Friday to open their account on Indian soil.

That is unlikely to happen here or in this series as Virat Kohli and Co are not only determined to continue their dominance over their sub-continent neighbours but also look at this rubber as a serious preparation for the overseas tours as they are cramped for space between this series and the next one in South Africa.

The Indians have absolutely no time to even breathe after this series is over, leave alone preparation time, that India depart to South Africa and straightaway play their first Test in Cape Town from January 5 with hardly a two-day warm-up game to acclimatise the conditions there.

So, ‘two mangoes from one stone’ is how the Indian team management is looking at. This series against Sri Lanka is a sort of preparing for South Africa in terms of the pitch conditions and also testing their personnel. And, also throwing their weight around as the No. 1 Test team in the world against a side placed five spots below.

India almost forced a result in the first Test in Kolkata despite losing a lot of overs due to weather and are confident of crossing over the line against the Lankans, who are brilliant in parts but not so when it comes to a whole unit, succumbing under pressure like they did at Eden Gardens when pressed fully.

The hosts have to make two forced changes into their 11 for this Test following vacancies created by the absence of Shikhar Dhawan and Bhuvneshwar Kumar due to “personal reasons”. Murali Vijay, still coming to terms as to how he has been relegated from a No. 1 opener when he last played a Test in March to a third-choice now, is an automatic choice, looking to win back his rightful place at the top of the order, while the second vacancy may be filled by lanky senior pacer Ishant Sharma.

This means that Tamil Nadu all-rounder Vijay Shankar, who has been named as Bhuvneshwar’s replacement for the remaining two Tests this series, will have to wait for his maiden cap and get familiar with the team set-up and be groomed as the second all-rounder after Hardik Pandya. Kohli, for one, is surely impressed with what Shankar is made up of with the bat, ball and also in the field.

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