Sri Lanka crush South Africa: List of records broken
Sri Lanka crushed the Proteas by 278 runs in the first Test in Galle. South Africa were left red-faced as they were bowled out for their lowest Test total since their readmission to cricket. Chasing a target of 352, Sri Lankan spinners wrapped up South Africa's innings for just 73. Here are the records that were broken in this fixture.
South Africa humbled in Galle
South Africa were bowled out for a paltry score of 73 and, in the process, scripted several unwanted records. This is their lowest Test total since their readmission into Test Cricket, in 1992. Further, this is also the second lowest total for any team against Sri Lanka and the joint third lowest total for any team in Sri Lanka.
Rabada's fine form continues
Even though, the Proteas batting unit failed miserably but their bowlers delivered a notable performance. South African speedster Kagiso Rabada is now the youngest player to bag 150 wickets in Test cricket. He achieved the feat aged 23 years and 50 days. He dethroned India's Harbhajan Singh, who had achieved this milestone at the age of 23 years and 106 days.
Lakmal now amongst the elite
Suranga Lakmal has entered the list of elite Sri Lankan captains, who won their first two Tests as skipper. He joined the likes of Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara and Rangana Herath as Lankans thrashed South Africa on Saturday.
Steyn equals Pollock's record as leading wicket-taker
South African ace Dale Steyn is now level with Shaun Pollock as South Africa's leading Test wicket-taker. Steyn bagged his 421st Test scalp when he picked up the wicket of Lakshan Sandakan. He achieved the milestone in his 87th Test as opposed to Pollock, who took 108 matches. However, he will have to wait a few days to go past the former African captain.
Steyn's first Test in close to two years without injury
For the first time, since August 2016, Dale Steyn has completed a full Test match without any injury concerns. Steyn bowled 24.4 overs, giving away 89 runs, while bagging 2 wickets. Interesting, Dimuth Karunaratne alone scored more than South Africa's eleven batsmen. He scored 158* and 60, which totals to 218 runs, while South Africa managed just 126 and 73 totalling to 199 runs.
Karunaratne carries his bat in the first innings
Dimuth Karunaratne is just the fourth Sri Lankan opener to carry his bat in a Test innings. He joins the likes of Sidath Wettimuny, Marvan Atapattu and Russel Arnold. He alone scored 55.05 per cent of Sri Lanka's runs on the opening day. Notably, only 7 other Sri Lankans have ever scored a higher percentage.
Karunaratne makes his 50th Test a memorable one
This was Dimuth Karunaratne's 50th Test match and he made sure it was a memorable one as he slammed a hundred. He is now the third Sri Lankan who have scored a hundred in their 50th Test match. Sanath Jayasuriya made 188 while Tillakaratne Dilshan scored a century in each innings (162 and 143) in his 50th Test.
Karunaratne now has Test hundred against 7 nations
This was Dimuth Karunaratne's 8th Test hundred as an opener. Only Marvan Atapattu (16) and Jayasuriya (13) have scored more hundreds as an SL opener. Dimuth Karunaratne now has a Test hundred against 7 of the Test playing nations. He is yet to score a hundred against Australia and England.
