Manav Suthar lived up to his promise in the opening Test in Galle as India grabbed a 178-run first-innings lead on Monday.
Following his seven wickets in his maiden Test versus Afghanistan in June, Suthar got a wicket with his first ball in Sri Lanka and then took three more to help India bowl out the hosts for 284 on the third day.
On a wicket where the ball spun and jumped, the left-arm orthodox made the most of the conditions with his variations and turn.
Ravindra Jadeja provided good support with three wickets as the hosts folded up in the day’s final session despite Sonal Dinusha’s 100. With Kuldeep Yadav dismissing Kamindu Mendis, the spinners took eight of the ten Lankan wickets.
They were tottering at 90/5, but Dinusha and Niroshan Dickwella provided strong resistance with a 146-run stand for the sixth wicket. Dinusha brought up his maiden Test century, but Dickwella was still saddled with the unwanted record of most Test half-centuries without a hundred. Prasidh Krishna produced a beauty with a 62-over old ball to dismiss him for 80 after Tea.
New batter Keshara Nuwantha had an early reprieve as KL Rahul dropped another catch at slip, delaying Jadeja’s wait for his 350th wicket. The wait ended a short while later as Nuwantha’s confident shot struck the silly point fielder before the ball ballooned towards Shubman Gill.
Prabath Jayasuriya stuck around long enough for Sri Lanka to avoid the follow-on and allowed Dinusha to reach his century. But India quickly wrapped it up, before it got very dark in Galle and the groundstaff pulled in the covers, leading to early Stumps.
Bad light denied India 13 overs of batting, leaving them with a possible 196 overs in the Test to force a result.
Faulty DRS calls
India’s overzealous attempts at using the DRS on a crumbling wicket misfired on a quite a few occasions on Monday.
They lost a review at the start of the second session when they thought there was an edge off Dinusha’s bat off Suthar’s bowling. Dickwella was saved by the umpire’s call soon after, when Suthar rapped him on the front pad.
India lost their second review soon enough, when Jadeja’s spinning delivery struck Dickwella on the pad, with replays revealing it was bouncing over the stumps.