Niroshan Dickwella tried the oldest trick in the book to waste time on Day 5 of the Kolkata Test at Eden Gardens. After Virat Kohli scored a century, declared the innings for 352/8 and set a target of 231 for Sri Lanka to chase in the last two sessions, Dickwella was found having a few heated exchanges with the Indian bowlers. At first, Dickwella and Chandimal had a long animated chat among them which was objected by Ashwin. Umpire Nigel Llong too intervened in the matter and then skipper Kohli had a chat with the umpires.
The first incident happened just after 15 overs. It was clearly visible that the Lankans were trying to use up as much time as possible in order to push the Test match towards a draw.
Here’s the video of the first incident –
— cricket (@84107010ghwj) November 20, 2017
The second incident happened in the 19th over as Dickwella took ages to take the strike. He even stopped Shami as he was taking his runup. This riled up Shami as he walked towards Dickwella with anger. Umpire Llong had to call Kohli to mediate when the matters seemed to turn ugly.
Here’s the video of the second incident –
— cricket (@84107010ghwj) November 20, 2017
It did not just stop there, Dickwella once again tried to waste time before Ravindra Jadeja’s over. Kohli once again had to point out the Sri Lankan wicketkeeper/batsman’s foul strategy.
With time running out it was India who had the last laugh against Dickwella. He was caught in front of the stumps by Bhuvneshwar Kumar. The DRS could not rescue the Sri Lankan batsman as the umpire’s call turned the decision in India’s favour. Though, these incidents are bound to lay the ground for further tussles in the three-match Test series between India and Sri Lanka.
