Sri Lanka vs India, 1st Test, Day 3 – Lunch Report: Sri Lanka Lose Mathews But Perera Resilient

Jul 28, 2017 at 12:30 PM

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Sri Lanka vs India, 1st Test, Day 3 – Lunch Report: Sri Lanka Lose Mathews But Perera Resilient

Ravindra Jadeja snapped up two wickets, including the crucial one of Angelo Mathews, while debutant Hardik Pandya pocketed his maiden Test scalp to further amplify India’s chances of rolling over Sri Lanka before they could successfully breach past the follow on mark.

Resuming at the overnight score of 144/5, the batting side added 135 runs at the cost of three wickets in the opening session. The session can be equally divided between both the teams despite the fact that India managed to keep a firm grip on the match.

The momentum, which was in the favour of India in the first hour, swung to Sri Lanka’s side, all thanks to Dilruwan Perera’s high risk, high reward strategy which has kept Sri Lanka afloat at the moment. But, with only one wicket in hand, the all-rounder’s efforts alone won’t be enough, in the end, it can be clearly sensed.

The proceedings began on a positive note, as Angelo Mathews and Dilruwan Perera showed a great deal of application in thwarting off India’s bowling attack.

The duo chose to go with the counter attacking approach which saw the bunch of boundaries being scored in the morning. This tactic worked, but not for a prolonged period of time. While it helped the two bring up the fifty runs stand between them and later take Sri Lanka past the 200-runs mark, but the pair’s efforts could last only in the first hour of the day, 13.5 overs to be exact.

Jadeja, bowling from the end from which Ashwin got a good amount of assistance on day 2, broke through for India with the wicket of Mathews to inflict a massive dent on the batting side’s efforts to stay in the contest. It was an unnecesarry risk from the former skipper who had no reason to reverse sweep a length delivery with close fielders around the bat.

The second wicket fell in a short span of time in the form of captain Rangana Herath who could not save his wicket despite all the effort from Perera to shield him. After Mathews’ departure, Perera looked in a no holds barred mood looked absolutely convinced that the only way forward was to keep the bulk of strike with him and garner as many runs as possible before India polish off the tail.

Before, Herath’s loss, Perera survived a chance after Virat Kohli failed to get the advantage of the DRS system once again. In the 61st over, Sri Lanka faced a scare but was saved by the technology. Facing Jadeja, Perera attempted a sweep shot but could not connect and the ball crashed on his front pad. An LBW dismissal looked plumb and umpire Rod Tucker agreed as well. But the Lankans had no option but to try their luck, which they did and it worked.

Upon reviewing the decision, the Hawk-Eye suggested that the ball would have bounced over the stumps and therefore the decision was overturned much to the relief of the hosts.

https://twitter.com/84107010ghwj/status/890824210267992064

But after this major escape, Perera didn’t look back. With no Aseala Gunaratne unavailable, technically, Sri Lanka who were 7 wickets down had only two wickets to in hand. Things became worse and India came on the brink of a gaining a massive lead after Nuwan Pradeep was cleaned up but Hardik Pandya.

The chances of saving the team from follow on looks bleak but Perera shurely an great opportunity to register a ton.

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