India vs Sri Lanka 2nd Test: More Misery Awaits the Islanders?

March 11, 2022

Zohaib Ahmed, Senior Author

The second Test between India and Sri Lanka will begin from March 12 (Saturday) at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru. The match is to begin at 2:30pm IST. India are already 1-0 in the series, thanks to their thumping win in the opening match of the series. A win or even a Draw for India would see them seal the series, whereas a win for Sri Lanka would count as a massive shock. This will be a day-night Test played with the pink ball.

Teams Status

India

India have made one change to their squad for the second Test. Axar Patel, who was unavailable for the series opener due to a combination of shin injury and Covid-related sickness, is back in the squad.

He replaces fellow spinner Kuldeep Yadav, who was in the squad for the first Test but did not play, with team management opting for Jayant Yadav instead.

Yadav went wicketless in the first Test, meaning that Patel would be heads-on favourite to take his spot in the playing eleven, provided that India opt to go for a three-pronged spin attack again.

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka have been dealt a massive blow ahead of the second Test with the news being that Pathum Nissanka has been ruled out due to a back injury.

Nissanka’s absence would be greatly felt by the Lankans as he was one of the few positives in the first Test defeat, having top scored with a 61 in the opening innings. Dinesh Chandimal is likely to take his spot.

Further bad news is that Dushmantha Chameera’s ankle injury has still not healed and he is also not in contention yet.

Lahiru Kumara is also still in the treatment room, meaning that there is a good chance of Chamika Karunaratne playing in this game.

What Do the Sportsbooks Say?

India	Draw	Sri Lanka
1.10	10.50	15.0
1.10	10.50	15.0
1.085	14.0	20.0

India are a powerhouse on their own turf, which is why it’s no surprise that they are big favourites for the second Test. Parimatch and Sportsbet have India priced at 1.10, Sri Lanka at 15.0 and Draw at 10.50. On the other hand, Paripesa has India available for 1.085, Sri Lanka for a whopping 20.0 and Draw at 14.0.

Tipster’s Angle

Tip: Man of the match – Axar Patel @ 11.0

Axar Patel is a killer on Indian pitches. Over the first five matches of his career, he has taken 36 wickets at an astonishing average of 11.86. Furthermore, he is a nightmare with the pink SG ball as England would attest. In India’s last day-night Test, he had taken 11 of the 20 English wickets and was deservedly named the player of the match. We back him to do something similar to Sri Lanka. The odds have been sourced from Parimatch.

Tip: Mayank Agarwal to score more than 29.5 runs @ 1.87

In the only innings of the first Test, Mayank Agarwal missed out on the opportunity to score big. He’d still be kicking himself for that. With the disparity in the quality of both the sides so massive, he would likely again only get one opportunity to bat and he’d be raring to make good use of it now. We back him to score more than 29.5 runs here. The odds have been sourced from Parimatch.

Conclusion

This was a mismatch before the first Test and it is an even bigger mismatch now that Sri Lanka look so depleted. God help the Lankans.

Zohaib Ahmed

17:06, 11 Mar 2022

Senior Author

Zohaib Ahmed

Senior Author

17:06, 11 Mar 2022

Zohaib Ahmed is a sports journalist whose profession is to report and edit but whose passion is to predict and bet. He’s been in the industry for more than a decade and has worked/written for various bookmakers/tipsters. His expertise is in cricket, football, MMA, boxing and basketball.