SANJJEEV K SAMYAL
Sri Lanka’s Kusal Mendis and Dimuth Karunaratne showed no signs of pressure against a mountain of runs and came out all guns blazing in the second innings to make India work harder than anytime during the series on Saturday.
Powered by Mendis’s 110 and an unbeaten 92 from opener Karunaratne, Sri Lanka were 209 for two after being asked to follow-on, at stumps on the third day of the second Test. Sri Lanka still trail India by 230 runs, having conceded a 439-run lead following woeful batting in the morning.
Hardik Pandya provided India the breakthrough at the fag end of the day with wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha taking a diving catch off Mendis’s inside edge. The counter-attacking innings was studded with 17 fours and came off just 135 balls.
Ever since India’s epic fightback against Australia at Eden Gardens in 2001, teams are reluctant to enforce follow-on. This Indian team management is also not keen, and refused to use the option in Galle. But with a massive lead, their hand was forced.
Sri Lanka’s second innings too started on a poor note when Upul Tharanga was bowled by Umesh Yadav in the third over. On a dry surface, spinners R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja were the main threat. But Mendis and Karunaratne had their plans in place. Mendis straightaway went for his shots. He countered the threat from Ashwin by targetting the midwicket region. He used the cross-batted shot to good effect whenever the spinner gave air. Though a risky option, the diminutive batsman executed it well by staying on top of the bounce. He raced away to the three-figure mark with his batting partner still in his 70s. Karunaratne looked to play straight, worked his way off the pads by
During Sri Lanka batting stalwart Aravinda de Silva’s career, opposition bowlers dreaded bowling to him at the Sinhalese Sports Club ground track. A batsman who always looked to dominate despite his average build, Aravinda de Silva had an intimidating presence at the ground thanks to his powerful cut and pull shots.
This season has been a bit hard to take for Sri Lanka stalwarts like him with their team being pushed hard by all opposition. For the first time in the series against India, the master blaster made his presence felt at the ground. It seemed to fire up the home team batsmen and that reflected in their improved performance in the second half of the day as for the first time in the series, Sri Lanka batsmen dominated the Indian attack.
Leading the counter-attack was