‌ENG vs SL | Twitter reacts to Asitha’s fumbling grab culminating in roaring sigh of relief for Lahiru Kumara’s toil

ByArijit Kundu, SportsCafe Editor

Yesterday at 10:06 PM

The beauty of Test cricket lies in its virtues and quite often the players need to undergo a test of patience. While Chris Woakes tried his best to withstand the barrage of bouncers from Lahiru Kumara, the latter’s hard work ultimately paid off, courtesy of a juggling catch from Asitha Fernando.

Sri Lanka captain Dhananjaya de Silva’s decision to field first was welcomed with open arms by England’s stand-in skipper Ollie Pope but the hosts failed to walk the talk with the bat in the morning session. Apart from Ben Duckett’s 40, Joe Root stood out with the bat amidst brief starts from England’s middle order. As Root neared his 33rd Test hundred, his ally failed to withstand Lahiru’s test of short balls, ultimately losing patience and falling into a trap.

Lahiru continued with his spell post Tea but with an improved strategy to derattle the opposition. With Prabath Jayasuriya’s left-arm orthodox spin from one end, the right-arm pacer continued dishing a barrage of short ball to Woakes and Root for an extended period. Although the speedster didn’t get an immediate outcome of his hard work, his hard toil bore the result on the last ball of the 59th over when Woakes intended to hook the short ball towards deep square leg.

The red rock skewed off the top-edge as the all-rounder came into a bad position to execute the shot, eventually soaring high towards Asitha Fernando, who was sprinting square from deep backward square leg. The fielder fumbled to grab the ball on the first attempt but managed to hold onto it as it popped off initially. Eventually, the Sri Lankan bowler was caught in a mixed emotion of a sigh of relief followed by an exhale of frustration caving into an adrenaline-driven celebration. The Twitterverse witnessed the riveting battle of bat and ball, breaking into a frenzy.

What a catch!

— Gill Bill (@bill_gill76078)

That was all trap set for him!

Chris Woakes cannot handle proper short balls, he should always be attacked with a short ball ploy.
— Vipul Ghatol 🇮🇳 (@Vipul_Espeaks)

That wa bad shot to play!

Chris Woakes for the rescue yet again that too at his favourite Lords 🔥
— Dinesh here 🙋‍♂️🇿🇦 (@dinesh_offl_06)

He should not have played that!

As everyone awaits Joe Root’s 100, Sri Lanka chips away with another wicket - of Chris Woakes !!

Asitha Fernando managed to cling on to it !! 😄
— Cricketism (@MidnightMusinng)

Hahaha! LOL xD xD

Quite confusion for wicketkeeper, which ball to catch. 😉
— iʈs__dɦɑɤɱesɦ (@its__dharmesh)

Joe Root is a complete class!

“JOE ROOT”, test hundreds against each test playing nation:

India - 10

West Indies - 6

Sri-Lanka- 5

New Zealand - 5

Australia - 4

South Africa - 2

Pakistan - 1

Bangladesh- 0

Ireland - 0

Where he will end up? Just 1 hundred behind legendary Sunil Gavaskar😱👏.
— Make India Proud 🇮🇳 (@ankushmahajann)