India made 600 before picking up five Sri Lanka wickets on day two. (Source: AP)
Sri Lanka were left staring down a big task at hand after they lost half of their side before close of play on the second day of the first Test against India at Galle. They still trail India by 446 runs in the first innings after the visitors posted exact 600 runs, thanks to some big hitting from the lower order batsmen.
The batsmen were troubled by the swing and pace by pacers and later by drift and spin of the Indian spinners as it became difficult over after over to survive on the Galle pitch. Angelo Mathews held on to one end with an unbeaten 54 after surviving leg-before call when India reviewed and the ball was hitting the bails and was called “umpire’s call” which saved him. He grew in confidence and played some good shots, stepping out against the spinners and taking Sri Lanka to 154 for 5 at close.
First, it was Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Shami who beat the outside edge of Sri Lanka batsmen and later it was the willy spinner R Ashwin who adjusted to the breeze to put accurate drift and spin on the ball. He bowled an 18-over spell before being taken out of the attack in the final over of the day and he should have had ended up with more than one wicket in the day.
Ashwin kept the batsmen guessing about his delivery and induced edges of both the right and left-handed batsmen. Ravindra Jadeja also threatened the batsmen but he bowled far too less over than Ashwin.
Sri Lanka were 38 for 1 at Tea with Umesh sending back Dimuth Karunaratne back. He was trapped in front of the wickets and despite it looking dead straight, he reviewed it. The ball was crashing into the stumps.
The hosts lost four more wickets in the final session of play including that of Upul Tharanga, who looked the best batsman and in fluent touch, in an unfortunate run-out. Angelo Mathews was holding on to one end with an unbeaten fifty and was joined by Dilruwan Perera who was unbeaten at six.
Sri Lanka are still 227 runs short of saving the follow-on and they are a batsman short as Asela Gunaratne won’t come out to bat after he was ruled out of the match, and later the series, for a fractured thumb on Wednesday. He suffered that injury while trying to take a catch at second slip.
Tharanga was playing a good innings with the drives coming elegantly off his bat through the off-side and he was matched by debutant Dhanushka Gunathilaka but he tried playing one too many and edged one behind to Shikhar Dhawan at slips, ending a 61-run stand for the second wicket. Shami took one more wicket from the same mode when Kusal Mendis got a beaut of a delivery and edged it to Dhawan. The delivery bounced just more than usual and moved slightly away from the seam.
There was yet another partnership building. Mathews and Tharanga had added 57 runs for the fourth wicket and despite struggling against Ashwin, survived his spell. In one of his overs, Tharanga stepped out of his crease. The drift on the delivery brought the ball into his and he got an inside edge on to the pads before the ball went to Abhinav Mukund at silly-point. He flicked it back quickly and Wriddhiman Saha removed the bails. Tharanga was already inside the crease but when the bails were removed, his bat bounced and was in the air.
Ashwin finally had wicket in his spell when wicket-keeper Niroshan Dickwella was caught at short-leg. The spinner got one to dip and Dickwella was far from the pitch of the ball, which hit his bat after some bounce. Mukund once again showed quick reflexes and took a brilliant catch.
With Ashwin and Jadeja getting the hint of turn on day two, the third day could well prove to be another difficult one as India look for a big lead in the first innings. The Galle pitch will only get difficult to bat on as India also realised.
India resumed the day at 399 for three and an improved bowling performance from Sri Lanka saw them pick four wickets in the first session of play but India still made 104 runs in that session. India were bowled out 35 minutes before Tea but those quick runs from the last three batsmen added 88 runs from 71 balls to take India to 600.
Chesteshwar Pujara reached his sixth 150-plus score in Test cricket and Ajinkya Rahane also made a fifty before they were dismissed in quick succession. Nuwan Pradeep, who had picked up all three wickets on Wednesday, removed Pujara first, caught behind for 153. It was a beautiful delivery that bounced and moved slightly away from Pujara.
Lahiru Kumara picked his first wicket of the match when he had Rahane caught at slips. The Indian batsmen played it a bit away from the body to edge it.
India did not promote debutant Pandya up the order and stuck with R Ashwin at number six and Saha at number seven. Ashwin began confidently with the bat and found gaps with ease. Saha struggled for a bit and then tried to hit Rangana Herath for a big shot, only to hit it straight to mid-on.
India were five runs short of 500 and Ashwin was in the middle with Jadeja. Pradeep came round the wicket and Ashwin went for the pull off the short-ball, only to edge it behind and miss his half-century by three runs. He was livid with himself as he walked back to the pavilion.
Jadeja made a decent 15 runs before being falling in a trap by Pradeep. He got a bouncer which went through to the keeper. Next ball from Pradeep was a yorker and Jadeja was way out of his crease. The ball underneath his bat and disturbed his stumps.
Pandya then took over. He made a half-century on his debut after his catch was dropped at slips off Herath. Pandya was on six. He shed the defence approach and attack the bowlers. The short ball was sent easily over square or fine-leg for sixes. He had three in total.
But, he was not the first player to hit the six of India innings. It was Shami, who smashed Herath for a straight six. His run a ball thirty put India on track of some quick runs. He became Pradeep’s sixth wicket when his pull went straight to deep square-leg.
Pandya completed his fifty and Umesh made 11 runs with a six and a four before his partner was caught and Kumara wrapped India for 600.
