Challenge is the epitome of international sport. Ask any current or retired athlete, and his favourite contest would be the one where he was tested the most. Maybe he/she won that particular event, maybe not. But if there was enough to spur them on throughout its duration, fight the doubts within and endure, it would make for an everlasting memory.

Sadly, for the Indian team, this first Test against Sri Lanka doesn’t belong in that category. Not yet, anyway, with the hosts struggling at 154/5 at stumps, still 446 runs behind India’s first innings total of 600 runs. For the first six sessions of this Test, the visitors have completely steamrolled the opposition and the disparity in their rankings – No.1 to No.7 – only seems like an ever-expanding gulf.

Pujara’s journey since Galle 2015

Of course, it is not to say that this has been an easy ride. Just ask Shikhar Dhawan, who was struggling for form, and he will tell you that getting each one of those 190 runs was a task. It didn’t appear so, certainly not in the manner he stroked his way at a strike-rate of 113.09. Nor in the manner Cheteshwar Pujara batted at the other end, pacing to a 12th Test hundred, perhaps the easiest runs he has ever scored.

Image: AFP

“I think the way my partnership with Shikhar went, both of us batted really well, there was nothing tough on offer. Maybe it was challenging for him as he was making a comeback. But the way he batted, it was a pleasure to watch from the other end,” said Pujara at the end of day two.

Of course, Pujara knows this ‘challenge’ bit more than most. Two years ago, when the Indian playing eleven was announced for the first Test here in Galle, his name was missing. It was part of the continued experimentation from the Virat Kohli-Ravi Shastri combination, wherein Rohit Sharma failed spectacularly at No. 3. Later, in the third Test at the SSC in Colombo, Pujara came up with an awe-inspiring 145 not out in the first innings on a green-top wicket as an opener.

He will never forget that knock.

“As a batsman, you always want to perform well on challenging pitches. When I got my 145* at the SSC (in 2015), that particular wicket was more challenging than this one. When you score a hundred on such wickets, it is more satisfying than this one.

“But when you are doing a job for the team, when you are playing Test cricket and if you have an opportunity to score a hundred, you might as well score more than 100, as many runs as possible. I always enjoy scoring big runs,” he added with a smile, content with the 153 he scored in Galle, and laying to rest some unpleasant memories.

On Wednesday and much of the morning session on Thursday, Pujara never looked like getting out. He was in third gear, almost stuck there by will, scoring at a leisurely pace. If he wanted, he could have batted until December. But then he left the crease, in a non-astounding way as his innings, edged behind off one that shaped away.

The Pandya Factor

Through this Test, and expectedly through this series, the challenge will all be Lanka’s as they seek to find solutions to stop the Indian batsmen and indeed face the Indian bowlers. This is not just about the disparity in rankings between the two sides anymore; instead it is also about the general direction the two countries are taking in terms of their cricket.

For India, that 2015 series was a ‘landmark’ as Virat Kohli had put it before the tour. It was a launch pad for whatever this team has achieved in the two years since, even if it was on home soil. For Sri Lanka, the struggle is very real, almost as if they are caught in a never-ending transition cycle. It is almost as if they have stood still these past 24 months, if not regressed altogether, while their neighbours have certainly moved forward.

No one personifies that better than Hardik Pandya.

Two years ago, India struggled to find a proper balance to their playing eleven in Galle and lost the match. They introduced an all-rounder in the next two Tests in Colombo – Stuart Binny – and Kohli’s thoughts were very much visible therein. Horses-for-courses has been the mantra even as Binny couldn’t keep his spot in Test squad thereafter. India’s search for an all-rounder, for someone who could impart that vital balance in overseas Tests, for the moment atleast, has stopped with Pandya.

It was surprising that both R Ashwin and Wriddhiman Saha batted before him. Maybe, that is how the management sees Pandya, an enforcer in the lower order who can farm the strike with the tail-enders and get vital runs for the team. Maybe, India’s innings could have folded under 550 given the spirited Lankan bowling performance in the morning session. It wasn’t to be, as Pandya smacked an immaculate maiden half-century.

“When it comes to batting, he trusts his strengths. The way he bats, he could dominate the bowlers and play his shots, especially with the tail-enders,” said Pujara. The standout aspect of Pandya’s knock wasn’t his flicks and pulls, or even his sixes, but that he took India from 495/7 to 600 all out, including a stellar 62-run partnership with Mohammed Shami.

Again, challenge is the bottom-line. You would think no.6 was the optimal batting slot for Pandya on this flat pitch, but the Indian team management threw down the gauntlet at him. They asked him to do a particular job in his first appearance, and he didn’t disappoint.

Similarly, the Indian team management also threw down the gauntlet at the Sri Lanka batsmen. It was a matter of lasting out one session and 40 minutes on a flat-track where they had spent five-plus sessions chasing leather. Instead, they buckled under the pressure of a tall-score, with some nagging line and length bowled by Shami, Umesh Yadav and Ashwin. There was simply no escape, and the Lankan batting buckled under this chokehold.

The bad news for the hosts is that day two was only a microcosm of how this series will progress, in all probability.