What began as a dull day in terms of run rate was turning out to be a good one for India. Losing the toss and asked to bowl on a pitch good for batting, Virat Kohli’s bowlers took wickets at crucial junctures to halt Sri Lanka’s progress. At tea on Day 1 of the second Test, the visitors were 151/4.
Deviating from their ploy of playing with five specialist bowlers by including Rohit Sharma in the XI in place of an unfit Mohammed Shami, India could have been left ruing the decision after losing the toss. Some disciplined staff from all four bowlers and Sri Lanka’s overcautious approach meant that the hosts scored the early points.
Given that the pitch might offer turn later on, it was important from Sri Lanka’s point of view to have a good score in the first innings. But losing the top four for a total of 83 runs between them made sure that skipper Dinesh Chandimal and others after him have to get going for their team to put India under pressure.
Playing a Test after March, Ishant Sharma was the pick of the bowlers. Getting the ball to thud into the keeper’s gloves and generating bounce, the fast bowler got a crucial act right by not spraying the ball around. There wasn’t much movement off the pitch, but the fast bowler hardly erred in direction. Batsmen had to look for runs against him and one such attempt resulted in the first wicket, when Sadeera Samarawickrama’s slash found Cheteshwar Pujara at first slip.
Proceedings were slow and painstaking for those in the stands as the period before lunch produced a mere 47 runs in 27 overs. Lahiru Thirimanne never looked confident and perished for a 58-ball 9. But the big blow came after lunch when Ravindra Jadeja trapped Angelo Mathews leg-before. Dimuth Karunaratne had lifted Lankan hopes with a a half-century, but his dismissal in similar manner against Ishant ensured that India held a slight advantage going into tea.