Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin claimed two early wickets to put India on top of the second Test after the visitors posted 622-9 declared against Sri Lanka in Colombo on Friday. Ashwin got rid of openers Upul Tharanga for nought and Dimuth Karunaratne for 25 to leave the hosts reeling at 50 for two at stumps on the second day.
Kusal Mendis on 16 and skipper Dinesh Chandimal on eight were batting at close of play with the hosts still trailing by 572 runs in their first innings at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground. "Chandi and Kusal batted really well in the last few overs. We have to play positively," Karunaratne, who praised Ashwin's variations as a spinner, told reporters.
"Last time when we played in Galle Chandi got 160-odd scoring a lot of runs off the sweep and reverse sweep. I think that will be key." Earlier six Indian batsmen scored 50 or more - including centuries by Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane - as the tourists posted their biggest total in Sri Lanka.
Indian allrounder Ravindra Jadeja hit an unbeaten 70 as wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha made a patient 67 and Ashwin scored 54 before becoming Herath victims. "Right now, it is a good thing that every batsman is scoring runs. Not only top five or six but also 7, 8, 9, 10," Rahane told reporters.
"(Mohammed) Shami also scoring a bit, Umesh (Yadav) was also batting well. So it is good that the last four are contributing," Rahane said. However the 217-run fourth-wicket partnership between overnight centurions Pujara, who top-scored with 133, and Rahane remained the highlight of India's innings.
"We thought if we dominate, if we change the momentum, they will be on the back foot straightaway, and that's what happened," Rahane said of the marathon stand. "We knew that one big partnership and they will be on the back foot," he added. Veteran left-arm spinner Rangana Herath claimed four wickets for Sri Lanka, which suffered new injury worries after paceman Nuwan Pradeep left the field on day one with a pulled hamstring. Karunaratne informed that the hosts will not only miss Pradeep in the ongoing Test but the paceman will be out of action for "one or two months".
==================================================
SCOREBOARD
==================================================
India 1st innings
==================================================
S. Dhawan lbw b Perera 35
L. Rahul run out (Chandimal/Dickwella) 57
C. Pujara lbw b Karunaratne 133
V. Kohli c Mathews b Herath 13
A. Rahane st Dickwella b Pushpakumara 132
R. Ashwin b Herath 54
W. Saha st Dickwella b Herath 67
H. Pandya c Mathews b Pushpakumara 20
R. Jadeja not out 70
M. Shami c Tharanga b Herath 19
U. Yadav not out 8
==================================================
Extras: (b8, nb2, lb4) 14
Total: (9 wkts dec; 158 overs) 622
==================================================
Bowling: Pradeep 17.4-2-63-0, Herath 42-7-154-4, Karunaratne 8-0-31-1, Perera 40-3-147-1, Pushpakumara 38.2-2-156-2, De Silva 12-0-59-0.
Fall of wickets: 1-56 (Dhawan), 2-109 (Rahul), 3-133 (Kohli), 4-350 (Pujara), 5-413 (Rahane), 6-451 (Ashwin), 7-496 (Pandya), 8-568 (Saha), 9-598 (Shami)
==================================================
Sri Lanka 1st innings
==================================================
D. Karunaratne c Rahane b Ashwin 25
U. Tharanga c Rahul b Ashwin 0
K. Mendis not out 16
D. Chandimal not out 8
==================================================
Extras: (lb1) 1
Total: (2 wkts; 20 overs) 50
==================================================
Bowling: Shami 3-1-7-0, Ashwin 10-2-38-2, Jadeja 7-4-4-0
Fall of wicket: 1-0 (Tharanga), 33-2 (Karunaratne)
Still to bat: A. Mathews, D. de Silva, N. Dickwella, D. Perera, R. Herath, M. Pushpakumara, N. Pradeep
Toss: India
Umpires: Bruce Oxenford (AUS), Rod Tucker (AUS)
TV Umpire: Richard Illingworth (ENG)
Match Referee: Richie Richardson (WIS).
Comments
Comments are closed.