The P Sara Oval at the Tamil Union Cricket and Athletic Club is perhaps one of the warmest of cricket grounds.
It is picturesque beyond words, with trees and grass banks lining up half of the Oval. The rest is taken up by pre-independence-era stands, with their green thatched roofs and columns glinting under the sun.
Embellished as they are by furniture made from the finest teak from Burma (Myanmar), the majestic feel to it is unmistakable.
There are new air-conditioned boxes too, like the ones over the M. Sathasivam and the Sathi Coomaraswamy stands.
Yet the setting remains intimate.
“This is probably the only ground where you can spill out [of the stands] and have a drink on the ground,” said a member.
Ideally the Indians should have raised that toast. After having had Sri Lanka under the mat for three-and-half days in Galle, they should have gone into the Test 1-0 up.
But the embarrassing 63-run loss will have them playing catch-up, albeit, not really an unfamiliar situation overseas.
Much of the questions that plagued the team before the first Test remain.
The batting order seemed chaotic then. It now seems to be on the verge of a crisis, not withstanding the first innings exploits of Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan.
Rohit Sharma and K.L. Rahul are coming off a twin failure and the settled ones are either out, like Dhawan, or nursing their way back following an injury, like M. Vijay. The later though is expected to play after having recovered sufficiently from a torn hamstring.
And the bowlers, after having found a way to cut the Sri Lankan batsmen down to size, failed to finish the job and in-turn found themselves handcuffed when counter-attacked.
Yet, the Sri Lankans aren’t far ahead. Playing with gay abandon as if one has nothing to lose might work at times. But the team needs to introspect as to what got them into that situation in the first place.
The fact remains that its batsmen couldn’t read the Indian spinners for large tracts of the match.
Skipper Angelo Mathews seemed to sense this when he was asked if his team had the edge.
“When it comes to confidence yes,” he replied.
“When you win a game and pull a rabbit out of a bag, it’s tremendous for the confidence of the team. But we can’t be thinking of the last game. We have got to move on.”
“We can improve a lot when it comes to all three departments. India had us by our throats for three-and-half-days.”
While for India, Vijay is expected to come in for Dhawan, Sri Lanka will replace the injured pacer Nuwan Pradeep, who has injured his hamstring, with genuinely quick Dushmantha Chameera, who was injured for the first Test.
The wicket is expected to stay true to its past — of offering good carry and bounce. Mathews revealed the existence of a tinge of grass on it.
Kohli said that it looked hard. All of that points to the selection of Stuart Binny in the Indians’ ranks in the role of a batting all-rounder, in place of Harbhajan Singh.
On Wednesday, the first set of Kumar Sangakkara billboards came up at the ground, almost scrim-like, slightly offsetting the natural beauty of the backdrop.
For once though, the occasion will more than make up for it.
The ground which hosted the first-ever Test in Sri Lanka in 1982, will play host to Sangakkara’s last.
The teams (from): India: V. Kohli (capt.), K.L. Rahul, M. Vijay, Rohit Sharma, A. Rahane, W. Saha, R. Ashwin, Stuart Binny, Ishant Sharma, Varun Aaron, Amit Mishra, Harbhajan Singh, Umesh Yadav, C. Pujara, Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Sri Lanka: A. Mathews (capt.), K. Silva, D. Karunaratne, L. Thirimanne, K. Sangakkara, D. Chandimal, J. Mubarak, D. Prasad, T. Kaushal, R. Herath, D. Chammera, U. Tharanga, D. Perera, V. Fernando, K. Perera.
Umpires: Bruce Oxenford & Rod Tucker; TV Umpire: Ruchira Palliyaguruge; Match Referee: Andy Pycroft.
Match starts at 10 a.m. IST .
