Rain forced a delayed start to the second session, and India had a stroke of luck as they finally saw off Pasindu Sooriyabandara.
For 195 minutes, Sri Lanka’s No. 4, playing only his second Test, had kept the tourists at bay. But Ravindra Jadeja finally got the better of him, with a little help from the rub of the green.
It was a slider from the left-arm spinner that straightened off a length. Sooriyabandara used the depth of his crease and tried to dab it square on the off side. He didn’t have the room to work with. The ball deflected off the inside edge onto his back thigh and then on to the stumps. The youngster was out for 80, and Sri Lanka were 171/6.
Four balls later, Niroshan Dickwella nudged a dibbly-dobbly delivery down the leg side from Mohammed Siraj to Dhruv Jurel behind the stumps. It was a soft dismissal. Dickwella had impressed on his return to the Test fold after a gap of three-and-a-half years. But instead of building on his 80 in the first innings in Galle, he has regressed. Inconsistency is one reason why the 33-year-old has played only 56 Tests since making his debut in 2014.
At 216/7 at tea on Day 3 of the second Test, the hosts are staring at a series whitewash. Rain poses a bigger threat to India’s march than Sri Lanka’s batting. But every cloud has a silver lining, and from the home team’s perspective, Sonal Dinusha’s emergence is a big positive.
After scoring 100 and 84 in the first Test, the 25-year-old is batting on 52 here. He is showing his more experienced team-mates that this pitch is still pretty good for batting if one applies oneself properly.
Tea: India 503/9 dec. vs Sri Lanka 216/7 (Pasindu Sooriyabandara 80, Sonal Dinusha 52*; Prasidh Krishna 3-46)
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