India continued to dominate the opening Test against Sri Lanka at Galle and finished Day 3 on the driver’s seat. If the things pan out according to India’s liking tomorrow then we must be in for an early finish. Sri Lanka began the day on a positive note and courtesy a brilliant 92 by Dilruwan Perera and a fluent 83 by former captain Angelo Mathews ensured Sri Lanka reached a score of 291 in their 1st innings.
Ravindra Jadeja was the pick of the Indian bowlers while Perera was the top scorer for hosts. Kohli didn’t enforce the follow on which was a surprising decision. With a lead of 300 runs, India lost Dhawan early but Virat Kohli and Abhinav Mukund stitched together a valuable partnership to end the day’s play on
So after the end of the 3rd day’s play let us have a look at 5 Talking Points from the day’s play
Dilruwan Perera’s counter-attacking innings
Perera resumed Sri Lanka’s innings today along with his captain Angelo Mathews with the hosts precariously placed on 154/5. He was beaten quite a few times in the initial stages of his innings but as the game progressed he started growing in confidence and executed some exceptional shots to near perfection.
He attacked the experienced spin duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja with disdain and cleared the ropes on 4 occasions. He kept stepping down the track and deposited both the spinners for fours and sixes at will. He was eventually left stranded on 92 when the final wicket of Lahiru Kumara brought an end to the proceedings.
Ravindra Jadeja bags 3
The No.1 Test bowler in the world, Ravindra Jadeja did justice to his reputation and ended the 1st innings with impressive figures of 3/68. He went wicketless yesterday but today it was a different story altogether. First, he removed the most prized wicket of Angelo Mathews with a pitched up delivery. Mathews went for an extra cover drive but was holed out by Virat Kohli in short cover. He didn’t get the elevation he was looking for.
His 2nd wicket was of Rangana Herath with a slider and he finished off Sri Lanka’s innings with the wicket of Lahiru Kumara. The ball turned sharply to breach his defence and disturbed the timbers.
Rain breaks Pujara’s concentration
Cheteshwar Pujara who scored a brilliant 153 in the 1st essay fell prey to Lahiru Kumara after just making 15. He was looking well set and started off from where he left in the 1st essay but an uncharacteristic lapse in concentration brought about his downfall. The rains had just started and the umpires were looking towards the groundsmen when he flicked a middle stump delivery straight to Kusal Mendis stationed in the short fine leg region.
Abhinav Mukund finally makes a mark with a composed 81
The southpaw came into this innings with enormous pressure and he will be relieved to score few runs in the international circuit finally. He was troubled a couple of times early but in the presence of captain Virat Kohli he grew in confidence and played some gorgeous shots. The southpaw fell 19 runs short of a well deserved century when Danushka Gunathilaka sent him back to the pavilion in the final over of the day.
It was a quicker delivery which went on with the arm and thudded on to Mukund’s pads. It looked dead straight and the umpire had no hesitation in his mind and ruled it in favour of the home team. His innings of 81 contained 9 hits to the fence.
Virat Kohli comes back to form
Kohli wasn’t in the best of touches especially in the longest format of the game and this innings will surely give him confidence going into the remainder of the series. He began with an attacking approach and started taking on the Sri Lankan bowlers from the word go. He played some magical shots and struck 5 boundaries during his unbeaten knock of 76. If India does bat tomorrow Kohli will surely look to complete yet another century.