Life has never been easy for a Lankan pacer who spend years toiling on dead home tracks and the baggage makes them fade away into oblivion come away tours. However, Lahiru Kumara has proven he belongs to a new breed that takes the game to the opposition, as he raced to 100 Test wickets in Gqeberha.
Sri Lanka began the second Test of the tw-match series against South Africa in storming fashion on Thursday as Asitha Fernando dispatched Tony de Zorzi for a golden duck after the hosts elected to bat first. The pair of Aiden Markram and Tristan Stubbs sought to return stability to proceedings thereafter and chipped their way to a 32-run stand with both batters looking good to go big. However, just when the situation was beginning to feel comfortable, ace Lions pacer Lahiru Kumara broke through to break the partnership and bring up his 100th Test scalp in 33 Tests in the process.
Bowling the 12th over, Lahiru began by teasing Markram, batting on 20, with a full delivery outside off that made the opener flinch but he eventually let the red cherry go through harmlessly. Sensing an opportunity, the right-arm quick responded with a similar length delivery but this time bang at the stumps to tempt Markram into a dtive. The Proteas veteran took the invitation and paid heavily as the ball nipped back in significantly to go past the booming drive and thump into the pads before rattling into the stumps.
Lahiru was ecstatic at having earned his team an important breakthrough, and followed it up with Stubbs’ scalp soon after to send the Proteas into Lunch at 82/3.
1️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ 𝐓𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠!
Watch the 2nd #SAvSL Test LIVE on #JioCinema & #Sports18#JioCinemaSports #LahiruKumara pic.twitter.com/kg6pFaGPk4— JioCinema (@JioCinema) December 5, 2024
