SRI LANKA 2ND INNS
relying on the safer flick shot. The two added 191 for the second wicket, and more importantly, gave their team the self-belief.
Earlier, R Ashwin picked his 26th five-wicket haul to bundle out Sri Lanka for 183. He was well-supported by Jadeja, who completed 150 Test wickets with his second scalp of the day. Resuming the day on 50/2, Sri Lanka disintegrated quickly.
Jadeja created doubts in batsmen’s minds in the first over itself when he let a few balls rip. The batsmen showed no application and paid the price. The home team’s hopes rested almost entirely on the overnight pair of Dinesh Chandimal and Kusal Mendis. However, both fell to poor shots.
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 At the end of the third day’s play in the second Test, Sri Lankan batsmen were a confused lot over whether the sweep shot is a good option or not.
If you look at their first innings, the verdict is that it has effectively cost Sri Lanka the match and series after captain Dinesh Chandimal’s was caught attempting to sweep Ravindra Jadeja, triggering a procession which saw the hosts crash to 183 all out in 49.4 overs in the first innings. In the second essay, the script changed dramatically with the same shot being their most productive which helped Kusal Mendis counter the threat of R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. Wicket-keeper Niroshan Dickwella, the only batsman to get a halfcentury in the first innings, revealed that their captain’s downfall didn’t put them off the strategy to take on the Indian spinners with the sweep shot on a turning wicket. “We have to back ourselves 100 %. We
We were training hard on sweeps and reverse sweeps. When it comes to a spinning wicket, we have to play the sweep and that’s an option I used to play the sweep and reverse sweep a lot. It was the best option against Ashwin and Jadeja. I swept about 80 % of my shots