Day 3, Second Test SL vs IND: India keep their nose ahead after Angelo Mathews' ton
Colombo: India gained an upper hand in the second cricket Test against Sri Lanka by taking a handy 87-run first innings lead despite a fighting century by rival skipper Angelo Mathews, here on Saturday.
Angelo Mathews celebrates his sixth Test century. (Photo: AFP)
Resuming at the overnight score of 140 for three, the hosts were cruising along comfortably with Mathews (102) and Lahiru Thirimanne (62) adding 127 runs for the fourth wicket before losing seven wickets for a mere 65 runs on an engrossing third day's play.
The hosts were bowled out for 306 shortly after the tea break with leg-spinner Amit Mishra being the pick of the bowlers with figures of 4/43 in 21 overs.
Mishra was well complemented by Ishant Sharma (2/68) and Ravichandran Ashwin (2/76) as they turned the tide just when it looked like Sri Lanka were on course of a decent first innings total.
Ishant Sharma exults after taking the wicket of Lahiru Thirimanne. (Photo: AFP)
India lost first innings centurion KL Rahul (2) in the very first over being bowled by Dhammika Prasad but Murali Vijay (39 batting) and Ajinkya Rahane (28 batting) ensured that there were no further setbacks by taking the score to 70 for one and extending the overall lead to 157 runs.
The highlight of the third day's play was Mathews' sixth Test hundred as he gave ample display of his batting class and showed that he is ready to take over the mantle of their top batsman from the retiring legend Kumar Sangakkara. His innings had 12 boundaries in all.
With two full days left, India will push for a series levelling win by setting a big target for the hosts on a tricky fifth day P Sara Oval track.
The track which has already shown signs of wear and tear with the spinners getting enough turn to make batting difficult on the final two days. The first session belonged to Sri Lanka as they went into lunch at 224 for three with Mathews batting on 72 and Thirimanne was undefeated on 57. But it was Ishant, who turned the complexion of the game with his post lunch spell. First he got rid of Thirimanne, caught behind off a fuller delivery.
A rain break followed which must have impacted their concentration as first Test hero Dinesh Chandimal (11) fell cheaply offering a catch off Ishant's delivery to Rahul at first slip.
Mathews kept going at the other end and his perseverance paid off. He notched up his 6th Test hundred in the 98th over off 164 balls. Virat Kohli had to go for some treatment in that over and Ajinka Rahane was put in-charge for that short span of time.
Mathews couldn’t go on to get a big one as he edged Stuart Binny (1-44) to first slip and was caught by Murali Vijay in the 99th over to give the all-rounder his first Test wicket. Mishra then had Dhammika Prasad (5) caught at slip to round up India’s performance in this session with 4 wickets for 74 runs.
In the morning, Lanka negotiated the first session without any loss as Mathews and Thirimanne batted without any problems and added 84 runs in the 28 overs bowled.
Starting at the overnight score of 140/3, India’s main hope was in inducing mistakes from the batsmen before they got set. And it almost worked as Ishant got Thirimanne to edge one on the fifth ball of the morning. But the ball fell just short of first slip and out of reach for a diving Wriddhiman Saha.
Virat Kohli goes off the field for medical attention. (Photo: AFP)
It could be rated as a half-chance, and that was the only one on offer for the rest of session as the two batsmen played grinding knocks.
Skipper Virat Kohli changed around his bowlers regularly, and to their credit they bowled with control and the run-rate never crossed three-per-over. The pacers beat the batsmen on ample occasions but that one good chance was missing.
Similarly the spinners got little purchase from the pitch but whatever chances they induced never reached the close-in fielders as the batsmen played with soft hands.
