Sri Lanka Vs Ireland 2nd Test Match: Apart from the TATA IPL 2023 edition, The Test series between Sri Lanka and Ireland too have made headlines.
The home side, Sri Lanka won the first Test match quite comprehensively. The two-match series of the red ball format is being played at Galle International Stadium and The Lankan Tigers won the 1st Test match by an innings and 280 runs.
In the second Test match which is going on at the same above-mentioned venue, the visitors Ireland batted decently and posted 492 runs in their first innings.
Curtis Campher was the top scorer of Ireland with 111 runs, while the other batters too did a wonderful job. Paul Stirling was the second century-maker in this test match. He scored 103 runs alongside the captain of the Irish side, Andrew Balbirnie made 95 runs.
Despite giving an impressive performance with the bat, the visitors couldn’t make any impressions with the ball in this red-ball game. Four Sri Lankan batters scored tons and two of the Lankan batsmen smashed double tons as well.
Kusal Mendis scored 245 runs, Nishan Madushka smashed 205 runs while skipper Dimuth Karunaratne scored 115 runs and the former skipper Angelo Mathews was unbeaten on 100 runs.
The number three batter of the Sri Lankan team, Kusal Mendis played a magnificent knock of 245 runs and in the process, he also became just the sixth batsman to smash the most sixes (11) in a Test innings.
Mendis is also the fourth player from Sri Lanka in the overall list to achieve this spectacular feat in Test match Cricket. But he fell one short to equal the record held by Wasim Akram.
The Lankan Tigers are just the third team in the red ball format whose top four batters have smashed a ton in a Test match. India is the only team to achieve this feat three times in the traditional format.
They did it against Bangladesh in 2007, South Africa in 2010 and Sri Lanka in 2017. Pakistan has done it once in 2019 against Sri Lanka. SL is the latest team to achieve this milestone in the red ball format.
(No players from the Indian team has been included in this list of top 12 players. They are named in the overall list which is mentioned on the ESPN website).
By: Kaushal Kowjalgi
