Mohali, March 6 (SocialNews.XYZ) India picked three more wickets in the second session to brighten their chance of taking a 1-0 lead in the series on day three of the first Test at the IS Bindra PCA Stadium. At tea, Sri Lanka are 120/4 in 35 overs and are still behind by 280 runs after being made to follow-on.
Sri Lanka lost Pathum Nissanka, the top-scorer from the first innings, early in the session as he poked at an away-turning off-break from Ravichandran Ashwin and the ball took a thin feather edge to keeper Rishabh Pant. The dismissal meant Ashwin equalled with Kapil Dev at 434 wickets in the list of leading wicket-takers in Test cricket.
Captain Dimuth Karunaratne looked assured in his drives, cuts and pulls. But Mohammed Shami got the ball to nip away and took the edge behind to Pant for a low catch. Angelo Mathews and Dhananjaya de Silva got going with early boundaries and frustrated India with a partnership of 49 for the fourth wicket off 109 balls.
Just eight minutes before tea, India finally had a breakthrough when Ravindra Jadeja took out de Silva with a full delivery which dipped, turned and bounced, only for the batter to check his drive with no footwork and gave a comfortable catch to short cover.
With two overs left for tea, Mathews decided to attack and he did it in style, dancing down the pitch and lofting Ashwin over long-on. Charith Asalanka joined the party by hitting Jadeja for back-to-back sixes over wide long-on and down the ground. He then ended the session with successive fours through square leg and third man to take 20 runs off the over.
Earlier, after a career-best 175 with the bat, all-rounder Jadeja bagged a five-wicket haul as India dismissed Sri Lanka for 174 in 65 overs in the first innings. After being made to follow-on, Sri Lanka were 10/1 at lunch. Though Sri Lanka added 110 runs in the second session, they lost three batters with Mathews still looking solid at the crease after playing 72 balls.
Brief Scores: India 574/8 dec in 129.2 overs (Ravindra Jadeja 175 not out; Lasith Embuldeniya 2/188) lead Sri Lanka 174 all out in 65 overs (Pathum Nissanka 61 not out, Charith Asalanka 29; Ravindra Jadeja 5/41, Jasprit Bumrah 2/36) and 120/4 in 35 overs (f/o) (Dhananjaya de Silva 30, Dimuth Karunaratne 27; Ravichandran Ashwin 2/32, Mohammed Shami 1/24) by 280 runs.
Source: IANS
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