Sri Lanka Vs Indian 3rd Test, Day 2: Twitter Reacts As India Strengthens Grip On Match 1

After scoring 487, Team India took a giant leap towards inflicting a whitewash on Sri Lanka by dismissing the hosts for a paltry 135 before enforcing a follow-on. In the second innings, Sri Lanka finished the day on  19/1, still 333 runs behind India’s total.

After being blown away by Hardik Pandya’s whirlwind century, Sri Lanka were off to yet another poor start in their first innings as Mohammed Shami dismissed openers Upul Tharanga (5) and Dimuth Karunaratne (4) cheaply. The matters further worsened for hosts when last match’s centurion Kusal Mendis was run-out for 18 by Kuldeep Yadav with the scoreboard reading only 38. Hardik Pandya then trapped Angelo Mathews in front for a duck to put the visitors firmly in command of the proceedings.

Any hopes of putting up a brave fight back were soon quashed when Kuldeep Yadav ended a 63-run stand between Dinesh Chandimal and Niroshan Dickwella by dismissing the latter to leave the hosts reeling at 101 for 5. 6 runs later, the chinaman spinner struck once again to remove Dilruwan Perera.

Ravichandran Ashwin soon dismissed Dinesh Chandimal before Kuldeep Yadav accounted for Malinda Pushpakumara to reduce the hosts to 125 for 8. The hosts were eventually dismissed for 135.

Earlier, a blistering century from Hardik Pandya helped India to post 487. Starting the day on 329 for 6, the visitors could add just 10 runs before Wriddhiman Saha was sent back by Vishwa Fernando. However, Pandya took the matter into his own hands and shouldered the responsibility of guiding India to a good total with utmost aplomb by slamming his maiden century off just 86 balls.

Left-arm spinner Malinda Pushpakumara faced the wrath of Pandya as the India all-rounder launched a stunning assault, hitting two fours and three sixes in one over to earn the record for most runs in an over in a Test by an Indian. The Baroda star, who was dismissed for 108, also broke the Indian record for most runs by a batsman in the opening session. He smashed 107 runs in the first session to break Virender Sehwag’s record of 99 runs.

Here is how Twitter reacted to the day’s play:

https://twitter.com/AllTimeBakchod/status/896647710496874497