Vimukthi Adithya
‘Don’t you worry Kusal aiya, I’ll hit the ball with my body, if nothing else’.
This coming from a number 11 batsmen when Sri Lanka was creeping for a miraculous win obviously would have motivated Kusal Perera who was hitting the ball to all parts of the Sahara stadium, Kingsmeed. 16 overs the last duo batted together, 78 runs they did add and 27 balls were safely negotiated by Vishwa Fernando.
You would hesitate to believe that a number 11 batsmen who was just playing his 4th Test match had such astuteness and a Cricketing brain. Vishwa was ready to do anything, it happened exactly as intended for the Lankans; 4 balls faced by Perera and a single the next ball, but facing just a delivery from the World’s best bowling attack that included the number one Test bowler KG and Steyn was sufficient for a number 11 to lose his off pole or edge to edge behind. But he battled it out, he was ready to face the chin music. He edged a few times, ball flew past the edge, flew over his head a few times but he did stand tall just like a true worrier who had nothing to lose.
Vishwa scored 6 and 5 of it came from overthrows and with 4 needed KJP’s late cut took the ball to the boundary to remind the Lankans of the late cut played by Arjuna in the 1996 World cup finals, that was the exact same shot Captain Cool used to score the winning runs !!.
Record alert; this 78 by Kusal Perera and Vishwa Fernando is the highest last wicket partnership in a successful test chase. This coming from a batsmen who was playing his 2nd match after being recalled, from a number 11 batsmen who was playing his 4th test match, at a time where Sri Lanka Cricket was called as the ‘laughing stock’ of the world, at a time where the regular skipper was dropped, new players were brought in and at a time where the head coach was in the firing line makes this victory one to remember for a long time and one to talk for the rest of the life. Indeed one of the best test matches of all time and one of the best test knocks of all time.