Going by the early morning scenes which unfolded at the Sinhalese Cricket Stadium, India is all set to bowl out Sri Lanka not once but twice on day three itself. Wickets fell in heaps as India kept gaining and gaining an advantage over the hosts.
Meanwhile, have a look at Pujara’s catch here:
https://twitter.com/Cricvids1/status/893723424018751488
The day was meant to the make or break day where everyone expected to see Lankans fight it out. There is a mountain of runs to climb and after losing both the opener yesterday, the batting side was in a critical position. But, there was hope as there were 8 wickets in hands.
However, the Indian bowling attack proved to be an untameable force today and looked so flawless that they came close to bundling the entire team in the opening session itself. A total of 6 wickets which fell in clusters stands as a testament to the fact.
With such sharp turn on offer and recklessness on display from the hosts combined with the Indian bowling attack’s appetite for wickets, there seems no way Sri Lanka would be able to save enough wickets to push the match to the fourth day.
Ravichandran Ashwin added three more to complete his 5 wicket haul, Ravindra Jadeja added two wickets to his kitty, Umesh Yadav picked a wicket while Mohammad Shami sped up the bowling annihilation with two quick wickets in the first over of his spell. All in all, it was a wholesome performance which led to the wrap up of the Lankan innings.
While the pitch provided ample amount of support and the bowler did a great job to make use of the conditions, much of the fault can be put on the batsmen as well which seemed uninterested in hanging around.
A complete dry spell of defensive batting was the way to in the bygone session but lack determination made things worse.
The only batsman who provided some solace was Danushka Gunathilaka who struck a quick fire half–century and added the much need entertainment factor. However, eventually, a senseless approach influenced his mind as well. After batting impressively, he went for an unnecessary lap-shot which ended in his playing the ball onto the stumps bringing his downfall.