Former Indian batter Cheteshwar Pujara has shared a light-hearted glimpse into Ravichandran Ashwin’s competitive edge during their time together in the Indian Test side. Speaking on a Sony Sports Network show during the ongoing India-Sri Lanka series, the former India batter recalled how the off-spinner’s search for wickets sometimes took a big turn. He explained that Ashwin followed a personal ritual before bowling. The spinner would hand his cap to Pujara, who then passed it to the umpire. The exchange worked both ways at times. 

“There’s this one story about Ashwin. I’ve never really discussed it with him, but whenever he used to come on to bowl, he had this thing where he would give me his cap, and I would hand it over to the umpire,” Pujara said. When wickets proved hard to come by, the ritual gained extra urgency. Ashwin would actively look for Pujara on the field.

“Now, quite often, when he wasn’t getting wickets, he would actually look for me on the field, like, ‘Where is the guy?’ Because he felt that if he gave me his cap, maybe something would happen and he might get a wicket,” he said. The video quickly went viral after Sony Sports Network posted clips from the conversation. Ashwin himself responded on social media by resharing the video with a few emojis.

India in control after Day 3 despite half centuries from Sonal Dinusha and Pasindu Sooriyabandara

India remained firmly in control on the third day of the second Test against Sri Lanka at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo. After declaring their first innings at 503 for nine, the visitors chipped away with wickets. Sri Lanka began the day in deep trouble at 8 for 2 and never truly recovered. Pasindu Sooriyabandara batted really well and scored his first Test half century. He scored 80 before getting dismissed by Ravindra Jadeja. Kamindu Mendis made 32 but again lost his wicket to Prasidh Krishna. India kept picking wickets as Dickwell departed for a duck. By tea Sri Lanka had been reduced to 216 for 7 and were in deep trouble. 

Once again it was Sonal Dinusha who fought hard with an unbeaten half-century. He remained unbeaten on 85 as Sri Lanka ended Day 3 with 265/8 and still trail by 238 runs. Prasidh Krishna was the pick of the Indian bowlers with three wickets, while left arm spinner Manav Suthar picked up two and Jadeja had one wicket. Debutant off-spinner Saransh Jain went wicket-less and overall it was a very closely fought day and Sri Lanka did well to recover from early blows. With two more days left in the Test this is setting up to be a thriller.