Mohali : India extended their stronghold on day two of the first Test at the IS Bindra PCA Stadium as Sri Lanka ended the day at 108/4 in 43 overs. After declaring at 574/8 in 129.2 overs, India picked four Sri Lankan wickets in the final session to put the visitors on the backfoot while enjoying a lead of 466 runs.
Sri Lanka got off to a steady start as Dimuth Karunaratne and Lahiru Thirimanne got 48 runs in the first 18 overs. India used four bowlers within the first ten overs but didn’t get much help from the pitch. Ravichandran Ashwin’s introduction made things tough for Thirimanne and eventually, the off-spinner enticed him in defending forward and beating the inner edge to trap the batter plumb lbw.
Karunaratne managed to survive testing over from Mohammed Shami. But Ravindra Jadeja, who got some turn and created chances for lbw shouts, struck with his second ball of the day, trapping Karunaratne with a spinning-in delivery and hit him on pads plumb in front of stumps while trying to sweep.
Pathum Nissanka and Angelo Mathews looked confident at the crease after hitting some boundaries. But Jasprit Bumrah separated the duo, cleaning up Nissanka through the gate, only to realise that it was a no-ball. Bumrah finally got a wicket when he trapped a shuffling Mathews lbw, rapping him on the back pad.
Ashwin then came back for another spell and was rewarded with the wicket of Dhananjaya de Silva on the very first ball. De Silva shuffled across to slog-sweep to a very full delivery on off-stump and was struck plumb in front of stumps.
Jadeja had beaten Charith Asalanka on the inside edge and was successful in lbw appeal. But Asalanka got to reverse the decision as the video review showed the ball missing the stumps. Asalanka and Nissanka then ensured that Sri Lanka reached stumps with no further loss of wickets.
Brief scores: India 574/8 dec in 129.2 overs (Ravindra Jadeja 175 not out, Rishabh Pant 96; Lasith Embuldeniya 2/188, Suranga Lakmal 2/90) lead Sri Lanka 108/4 in 43 overs (Dimuth Karunaratne 28, Pathum Nissanka 26 not out; Ravichandran Ashwin 2/21, Jasprit Bumrah 1/20) by 466 runs
–IANS
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